Fertitta Says UFC 176 is Not Happening

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said that the UFC 176 event on August 2nd at the Staple Center has been canceled due to an injury suffered by Jose Aldo in training.

Short Notice

With barely a month left before the event, Aldo’s injury comes on short notice and UFC officials found it difficult to come up with a replacement championship main event that will be PPV-worthy. Thus, Fertitta and the UFC were left with no choice but to cancel the event and reschedule the bouts to later dates.

This is only the second time in UFC history that a fight card was cancelled. The other one happened in 2012 when UFC 151 was scrapped after Dan Henderson suffered an injury two weeks before the big event. The bouts on that card were moved to later dates, but after the injury, Henderson never got the chance to face Jones again.

Like A Stinger

Aldo reportedly suffered a neck injury which Fertitta called “kind of like a stinger.” Aldo was ordered by his doctors to have no contact and no training for three weeks after the injury and it is likely that his condition will only be determined by them. However UFC president Dana White said that he believes Aldo will be ready to return in 45 days since this was a “short-term” thing. He expects the Aldo-Mendes bout to happen sometime in October.

Controversy at UFC 175

There was some controversy at UFC 175 when Joe Rogan asked Ronda Rousey if she was willing to save the August 2nd event. A surprised Rousey said she was due for a minor knee surgery but was optimistic that she was ready to go if given the medical clearance. Apparently, somebody at the satellite van popped the question to Rogan’s ear piece during the post-fight interviews. And although Rousey handled it well, White was pissed off and turned his anger on the producers for putting Rousey on the spot like that.

But Ronda was not going to fight anyway because aside from her scheduled surgery, she suffered a broken hand and nine stitches to close a huge gash caused by the voluminous punches she threw at Alexis Davis’ face during their 16 second fight at UFC 175.

Moving Forward

Most of the undercard bouts are expected to be moved to the recently announced UFC 177 card on August 30th in Sacramento, California. When the UFC announced the card, there were still no undercard fights yet. What is known right now is that the main event for UFC 177 will be the rematch between UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and former belt holder Renan Barao.