Today might not be a terrible day for Rafael dos Anjos, after all ... 'cause although his UFC 272 opponent Rafael Fiziev is out of their bout after testing positive for COVID-19, Dana White tells us they're trying to find someone to fight RDA on 5 days notice.
37-year-old dos Anjos and 28-year-old Fiziev were the co-main event (Jorge Masvidal vs. Colby Covington is the main event) ... but the fight was scrapped on Monday after RF tested positive for coronavirus.
So, when White joined Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV Show (airs weekdays on FS1), we asked if he was looking for a replacement, or whether there just simply wasn't enough time.
"We're working on getting him a new opponent. We'll keep that fight. We'll get him something," Dana says.
It's not the first time RDA vs. Fiziev has been canceled. In fact, the men were initially supposed to fight on February 19 at UFC Fight Night ... but the fight was scrapped because RF had "Visa issues," according to reports.
Now the question is ... who does RDA fight?
The former lightweight champ has been going back-and-forth online with Islam Makhachev ... but the fighter from Dagestan just beat Bobby Green on Saturday (albeit only took 98 seconds).
As for Fiziev ... he says he's crushed by the latest developments.
"I’m devastated to announce that I’m out of the fight. I had a great camp and was ready to put on the show, I flew all the way to Vegas from Thailand just to get sick with covid, for 3 days I’m in hotel bed with fever, bones pain and cough."
There's much more with Dana.
We also talked to White about the hatred between Colby and Jorge, whether or not Covington can get a third fight against Kamaru Usman, and what fights on the UFC 272 card excite the UFC honcho.