UFC 318 loses Nelson vs. Magny

According X user Octagon Update, an undercard welterweight fight between Gunnar Nelson and Neil Magny is off after the former sustained an injury in training.

🚨 per sources

Gunnar Nelson is OUT of his fight with Neil Magny for #UFC318 on July 19th.

Unsure if Neil stays on the card or not.

— Octagon Update (@octagonupdate) July 4, 2025

Nelson later confirmed the report himself.

“I won’t get into any crazy details about the injury but I’ll tell you it’s a two-part injury,” Nelson said on Instagram (via MMA Mania). “So there is a tear in one of the muscles in the hamstring, which is a Grade 2b injury. It’s not too bad, so it’s possibly something that we could have worked with. However, the second injury is on the tendon inside the muscle, which is a full thickness tear, so a Grade 4c injury and that’s a more serious one.

“Basically, I’m absolutely useless when it comes to any type of grappling scenarios,” the UFC welterweight added. “I’m not able to wrestle or grapple or kick and apparently it will be another eight weeks at least until I can comfortably have any type of grappling training at full speed. At least eight weeks. The good news is, I won’t have to do surgery so I’ll hopefully be good to go at the end of the year or late this year, so that’s my plan.”

While the Magny vs. Nelson fight wouldn’t be a huge loss on a bigger UFC card, there’s no question it’s a blow to the New Orleans lineup. Magny is the most experienced fighter on the card, with 34 fights in the Octagon. That’s even more than the headliners Poirier (31) and Holloway (30). Nelson has been at the top of the sport for ages too, with 16 UFC bouts to his credit.

No word yet on whether Magny will get a new opponent. Assuming he doesn’t, here’s how the card looks now.