It seems like the MMA gods are opposed to a fight between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick. Cortez pulled out of her scheduled fight against Maverick back in January, at the heels of facing Rose Namajunas on short notice at the UFC Denver undercard in July. In the latest, the second booking between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick also fell out just over a month before their scheduled bout at UFC Tampa on December 14th. Will a third time be a charm for Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick?

Taking to her Instagram story, Cortez revealed a miscommunication between her and the UFC where she allegedly informed them weeks ago that she wouldn’t be available for UFC Tampa as she would be undergoing surgery. Despite this, she was booked for the fight. She wrote, “Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication with me fighting Dec 14th in Tampa, as I informed the UFC weeks ago that I won’t be able to fight in December due to health issues that requires me to have surgery. I look forward to getting back in the cage early next year. Thank you to everyone who has reached out!!!” 

An opponent for Miranda Maverick is being sought, but a name has yet to be determined. Maverick is coming off a three-game winning streak after notching wins over Dione Barbosa, Andrea Lee, and Priscila Cachoeira in back-to-back appearances. Unfortunately, she will now have to turn her attention to a new opponent, as Cortez will not be able to compete on the upcoming card in Tampa, which serves as the UFC’s final event for 2024.

Tracy Cortez’s Instagram story might have added to Dana White’s existing woes, with fights falling out from the upcoming UFC 309 and UFC 310 cards. With fights like David Onama vs. Lucas Almeida, Azamat Murzakanov vs. Nikita Krylov falling off from UFC 309, and Belal Muhammad pulling out of the UFC 310 main event, the UFC head honcho has his hands full in finding suitable replacements for those gaps.

Fans are missing out on the highly anticipated fight between the female flyweights for the second time now. It will be interesting to see if Dana White goes for a third booking between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick. With that fight off the book for UFC Tampa, what about the rest of the card?

Without Tracy Cortez vs. Miranda Maverick, UFC Tampa still looks like a promising night

The much-anticipated UFC Tampa card, scheduled for December 14 at Amalie Arena, will miss the presence of Tracy Cortez. But despite her pulling out of the fight, UFC Tampa still promises a lot of firepower for the entertainment of fans.

In the main event, undefeated Irish superstar Ian Machado Garry faces Joaquin Buckley in a welterweight bout that could determine the next title challenger at 170 pounds. Both Garry and Buckley threw their names into the hat to serve as replacement opponents against Shavkat Rakhmonov for UFC 310. However, the UFC scrapped their bids to fight for an interim title, booking them against each other for the December card. The co-main event features a strawweight top 10 battle as multiple BJJ World Champion Mackenzie Dern takes on Amanda Ribas in a rematch of their 2019 showdown where Ribas won via unanimous decision.

Another banger on the card is a featherweight matchup between Cub Swanson and Billy Quarantillo. Both fighters will look to find themselves in the winning column, as Swanson lost his last fight via split decision to Andre Fili at UFC 303. Quarantillo will look for redemption against Swanson, after his submission loss to Youssef Zalal, earlier in March.

A men’s flyweight-ranked matchup is on the undercard where Manel Kape takes on Bruno Silva. Kape will look to bounce back from his July loss to Muhammad Mokaev, while Silva hopes to move up the rankings by adding to his four-match winning streak. So what do you think? Will UFC Tampa live up to the hype? Let us know in the comments.