Numerous profiled New York fighters not competing at Madison Square Garden for UFC 205

Another New Yorker has been pulled from the UFC’s first foray to the Empire State. Long Islander Gian Villante, who trains out of Serra-Longo’s Acadamy with former middleweight champion Chris Weidman, will no longer be facing Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden this November.

Villante, 31, joins Al Iaquinta and other New York natives who will not be competing on the historic card for one reason or another. Iaquinta was originally linked to a lightweight bout with Thiago Alves for UFC 205, but revealed on Monday that he never signed the fight agreement due to contract and bonus-related issues with the promotion.

Villante’s reason for being off of the card is far more innocuous, as he suffered a minor injury and will not be healed in time to fight by November when UFC 205 is scheduled to take place. It’s still unclear whether ‘Pezao’ de Lima will remain on the card at this time.

The Wantagh native most recently dropped a decision loss to Ilir Latifi at UFC 196 in March. Before that, Villante (14-7) scored a first round knockout over Anthony Perosh at UFC 193.

Marcos Rogerio de Lima scored a submission win over Clint Hester at UFC 197 following his first UFC defeat at the hands of surging light heavyweight Nikita Krylov in 2015. ‘Pezao’ knocked out his first two UFC opponents in the first round prior to the loss to Krylov.

So far, most of the UFC’s most prominent New Yorkers are not scheduled to fight on the UFC’s first card in Madison Square Garden. Ariel Helwani tweeted on the topic shortly after it was announced that Villante was pulled from the card.

As of right now, NYers Weidman, Iaquinta, Sterling, Villante, LaFlare, Bermudez are not scheduled to fight at MSG for various reasons. Wild.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 21, 2016

How do you feel about UFC 205 so far? Do you expect the card to remain intact, or will it suffer more injuries and replacements? Sound off, PENN Nation!