It was just two weeks ago when UFC president Dana White announced that the UFC’s return to Toronto in September was likely to feature the UFC heavyweight title rematch between champ Junior dos Santos and challenger Cain Velasquez.
That’s no longer the case.
In a UFC 147 post-fight interview on FUEL, White said while the fight was still going to happen, the date was likely to shift.
“The fight will happen, probably not in Toronto though,” he said.
White did not give any indication of a new timeframe for the fight, saying, “it’s going to depend on Junior,” but offering no further specifics.
dos Santos knocked out Velasquez in just 64 seconds the first time around, and he recently defended his championship for the first time with a second-round knockout of Frank Mir at UFC 146. Velasquez rebounded from his first career loss with a knockout of his own against Antonio Silva on the same night.
During UFC 147 fight week in Brazil, the promotion announced that they were likely to return to the MMA hotbed in October. The date would certainly fit with a dos Santos title defense, but for now, White isn’t saying whether or not the title match will be slotted into the show or shifted elsewhere on the rapidly filling calendar.
For now, a matchup pitting veteran B.J. Penn vs. upstart Rory MacDonald is the only fight the UFC remains publicly targeting for UFC 152.