Just a few weeks ago, UFC Fight Night 76 was looking like a pretty solid event. Nothing amazing, like the upcoming UFC 194 pay-per-view card, but definitely a solid event featuring two must-watch fights.
In the main event lightweights Dustin Poirier and Joseph Duffy were set to throw down, in a fight that was sure to be bonkers, and the co-main event was supposed to be a heavyweight contender’s fight between Stipe Miocic and Ben Rothwell. Even though the rest of the card was never anything special – although there are some decent fights featuring Europeans on it – for most fans, be it the ones watching on Fight Pass or those who bought tickets, those two fights were worth the price of admission even if the rest of the card had no stars to speak of on it.
Unfortunately, the card from just two weeks ago looks a lot different than the card that will take place tonight at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. First, Miocic pulled out of the Rothwell fight with an injury. With only two weeks until the event, and with heavyweight not having many fighters ready to take on a guy like Rothwell on short notice, the UFC pulled Rothwell off the card and scrapped the fight entirely.
Then, just a few days ago, Duffy was forced out of his fight with Poirier due to a concussion. Although the UFC offered Poirier a fight against Norman Parke, who is booked to fight Reza Madadi on the card, Poirier declined to take the fight against a short-notice opponent, not wanting to have a situation happen to him like the time Rick Story fought Charlie Brenneman on a day’s notice and was outwrestled.
So now, without the best two fights on the card anymore, the UFC moved up Ireland’s Patrick Holohan to the main event for his fight against Louis Smolka. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s actually a really good flyweight fight and will probably wind up winning Fight of the Night, but it’s not a main event by any means, even as a late-notice injury replacement. In fact, the UFC took the rare step of offering its fans refunds to the event, although knowing the Irish fans it’s likely many will keep their tickets anyways so they can watch Holohan, Cathal Pendred, Aisling Daly, and the like perform in their home country.
For most fans, though, an event that was once at least passable on paper now looks entirely skippable. While Holohan vs. Smolka should be a fun fight, it’s not really the type of fight that would make someone want to stay at home on a Saturday afternoon and watch, although it’s the type of fight to go back on Fight Pass and watch later. And unfortunately, while there are some solid fights still remaining on the card featuring some decent prospects like Steven Ray, Tom Breese, and Darren Till, these guys aren’t Sage Northcutt, and for most fans they aren’t the types of fighters that get you excited to give up a Saturday to watch. And for the fans who did buy tickets, you just have to feel bad for them, because the final card is completely different from the one the UFC first announced.
So who’s to blame for this mess? Some fans are blaming Duffy, and that isn’t fair. It’s not his fault he got concussed, although there is definitely some blame to be shared by his trainer Firas Zahabi and TriStar gym for having his guy sparring just four days before his fight. Still, I don’t think Duffy is to blame, and neither is Poirier. Yes, he turned down a fight against Parke, but that’s his fight. It’s his career, and if any of us were in his shoes we probably would have made the same decision.
Some fans are also blaming the UFC. While it’s hard to blame the promotion for its fighters getting injured, it is valid to blame it for not having a backup plan in place for something like this. With Duffy vs. Poirier it was always going to be hard to do anything, considering the proximity of the injury to the event, but I feel like there should have been a bigger search to find a replacement for Rothwell. I mean, Miocic pulled out two weeks ago. It’s not a ton of time to find a replacement, but it was still possible to, and I feel like the UFC didn’t really do a good enough job with that. For example, Stefan Struve is fighting Jared Rosholt in two weeks at UFC 193. Why not scrap that fight and move Struve to fight Rothwell? He’s from Europe, so obtaining a visa shouldn’t have been an issue. To me, the UFC just didn’t try hard enough to find Rothwell someone to fight, because Rothwell – a top-10-ranked heavyweight – versus just about any opponent would have at least been a passable main event. But with so many shows and not enough fighters to go around, a situation like this happens.
Ultimately MMA is a contact sport where fighters will get injured training, but it’s no excuse by the top MMA promotion in the world to go into an event with Holohan vs. Smolka as a headliner. Maybe the solution is to have fighter on standby, maybe it’s to keep these guys in bubble wrap until their fight, I don’t really know. But I do know that UFC Fight Night 76 isn’t up to the quality the UFC has come to be known for, and considering what it’s turned into, I can’t blame anyone for not watching it. It’s frustrating to be an MMA fan sometimes.
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UFC Fight Night 76: Holohan vs. Smolka (formerly UFC Fight Night 76: Poirier vs. Duffy) takes place on October 24, 2015 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
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