The demise of UFC 176 has been a blessing in disguise.
When the promotion announced the cancellation of UFC 176 earlier this week – or, as the UFC called it, the “postponement” – there was a collective outcry from fans and media alike. The UFC was making a huge blunder by cancelling a planned event which had tickets sold for it and screwing over the city of Los Angeles, who was looking forward to its first UFC event in two years.
In over 20 years of the UFC, there has been only one pay-per-view cancelled previously – UFC 151. And we all remember the backlash the promotion got from that one two years back.
Just like with UFC 151, when Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson was scratched with no time to find a suitable replacement headliner, there was concern this week about the other fighters booked for the UFC 176 card. Just because Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes couldn’t go for the UFC featherweight title, the rest of the fighters at UFC 176 didn’t deserve to suffer and have their fights possibly taken away, but anytime an event is canceled, there is always that possibility. There was some concern that some of the fights could be scrapped completely, or the fighters would be re-booked for cards a few months out, thus delaying their much-needed pay cheques.
Thankfully, though, the UFC has done well this week to find the fighters new cards to fight on, and in the process strengthen upcoming fight cards for the UFC’s ventures to new markets.
The UFC has never been to Maine, but the promotion and its fighters are going to Bangor on August 16, and the UFC Fight Night 47 card headlined by Ryan Bader vs. Ovince St-Preux was considered lackluster on paper. But with the addition of former UFC 176 bouts of Bobby Green vs. Abel Trujillo, Zach Makovsky vs. Jussier Formiga, and Gray Maynard vs. Fabricio Camoes, the UFC Fight Night 47 fight card is now very strong, and definitely becomes a must-watch event for fans.
The UFC hasn’t been back to Tulsa, Oklahoma since UFC 4 almost 20 years ago, but it is returning there on August 23 for UFC Fight Night 49, which is headlined by Benson Henderson vs. Rafael dos Anjos. The card was solid on paper already, but with the additions of Neil Magny vs. Alex Garcia, Beneil Dariush vs. Tony Martin, and James Vick vs. Walmir Lazaro, the card is now a lot deeper.
Same for UFC 177. The TJ Dilllashaw vs. Renan Barao 2-headlined card wasn’t looking good at all, but the additions of UFC 176’s Tony Ferguson vs. Danny Castillo, Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler, and Lorenz Larkin vs. Derek Brunson certainly help make it stronger. And ditto for UFC Fight Night 50, which was lacking a main event until the addition of a five-round middleweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – formerly UFC 176’s co-main event – which will now serve as the main event of UFC Connecticut.
So the fall of UFC 176 is not all bad. Yes, it sucks that the event was cancelled, and it does draw concern about the promotion’s lack of stars, since they couldn’t find a replacement main event for that card with a month’s notice, but at the same time, these other summer fight cards now look a lot stronger on paper, and overall they should be much more enjoyable to watch. And while it’s perfectly okay to feel bad for the fans of LA, the city deserves a true pay-per-view caliber card, and a fight between Jacare and Mousasi just doesn’t cut it as a PPV headliner.
I hope that the UFC doesn’t cancel any events ever again, but at least in this case it helped some other fight cards that needed fixing up, and the calendar of events in August and early September sure got a lot better because of it.
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UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. Saint Preux is due to take place on August 16, 2014 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine.
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UFC Fight Night 49: Henderson vs. Dos Anjos is due to take place on August 23, 2014 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto (formerly UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Barao II) is due to take place on August 30, 2014 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
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