That producer in the truck may have been on to something. According to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and Zuffa brass considered having UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey serve as a short notice replacement and headline UFC 176 in Los Angeles on Aug. 2.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo was booked to rematch Chad Mendes, but the event was subsequently cancelled Tuesday as Aldo was forced to withdraw on Jul. 2 due to a neck injury. Rousey served as the co-main event in her recent 16-second title defense to Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on Jul. 5.
Another piece of news came out of the postponement. Fertitta said UFC officials had talked amongst each other about potentially putting Ronda Rousey in a title fight in place of Aldo-Mendes, though he said it never progressed as far as talking to Rousey or her team about it. Fertitta revealed that Rousey also broke her right hand in her successful title defense Saturday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas against Alexis Davis.
Following Rousey’s quick win at UFC 175, commentator Joe Rogan was scolded by UFC president Dana White for asking Rousey if she’d be interested in fighting again on Aug. 2. Rousey reluctantly agreed while citing her upcoming minor knee surgery, but White immediately dismissed the notion to Rousey before confronting Rogan.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Cancelled. UFC 176 has been cancelled by promotion brass after featherweight champion Jose Aldo was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Interim title. UFC CEO Lorenzo Lorenzo Fertitta says an interim featherweight title bout could be a possibility if Jose Aldo can’t be medically cleared by October.
Fortunes changed for five. Dave Meltzer explains how B.J. Penn, Chris, Weidman, Ronda Rousey, Lyoto Machida and Urijah Faber move on following UFC 175 and The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale.
‘Ronda knocks out Cyborg.’ Ronda Rousey’s head trainer Edmond Tarverdyan says he ‘loves’ his fighter’s chances against Cris Cyborg. ‘I believe even with one hand she fights Cyborg, she beats her.’
‘Never in a million years.’ Jason Parillo says he had absolutely nothing to do with B.J. Penn’s new striking style.
Make sure to check out The MMA Hour featuring Pat Miletich, Chad Mendes, Jens Pulver, Phil Baroni, Edmond Tarverdyan and Jason Parillo.
MEDIA STEW
Metamoris 4: Countdown (Josh Barnett vs. Dean Lister).
Joe Rogan teaches the Imanari finnish.
The Road to the Cage: Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao.
TTTHS.
PANCRASE 259 Highlight.
Bill Burr talks Ronda Rousey and MMA vs. boxing.
Long watches.
Renato Laranja Show: Episode 3 with Bas Rutten (with excellent cameo from Cris Cyborg)
…
Josh Barnett Conquers The World: Katee Sackhoff
TWEETS
NOTHING has made me more excited in a long time than hearing a fight date from @seanshelby. Ask him tho-cuz I cnt release it. #comingsoon
— Dominick Cruz (@TheDomin8r) July 8, 2014
FYI.
@YoelRomeroMMA Looks like we are throwing down. FYI. I’m asking NSAC for drug testing on both of us. Lets set an example for the sport.
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) July 8, 2014
Bright side.
After my fight against Gleison Tibau, Brazil don’t worry you have the best fighters in the world @GleisonTibauMMA pic.twitter.com/tHp1BjoY9U
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 8, 2014
The Brazilians got buried tonight. On July 19th I bury one more.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 8, 2014
Getting paid sounds hard.
To win the US$50,000 ONE Warrior Bonus, a fighter must impress our CEO Victor Cui along the following 4 criteria:
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) July 9, 2014
1) The fighter must thrill the fans with exciting action
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) July 9, 2014
2) The fighter must demonstrate an incredible warrior spirit
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) July 9, 2014
3) The fighter must exhibit amazing skill
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) July 9, 2014
4) The fighter must deliver a phenomenal finish
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) July 9, 2014
Good to see.
Taking that first loss was the hardest thing for me. But coming home to my brothers waiting to cheer… http://t.co/UoQ6PGvuvU
— Darth Tank (@TankScogginsMMA) July 8, 2014
A sign of a future champ @TankScogginsMMA fought on Sunday and back in for sparring today Show’s true motivation pic.twitter.com/F6CivtTNC9
— Brad Pickett (@One_Punch) July 8, 2014
Congrats.
I am honored to have received my brown belt this morning from a very special person…the one & only… http://t.co/C9iMsvfdjK
— Jessica Aguilar (@jagatt) July 8, 2014
Bonus.
When I wear my @holdsworth135 shirt not only is my jitz magically better, people also jus come up n grab my genitals pic.twitter.com/TippBoYNcj
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) July 9, 2014
Bet those ‘Rousey hitting mits’ Instagrams look pretty good about now.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Jul. 8 2014)
Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 178
Seth Baczynski vs. Alan Jouban at UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Saint Preux
Dominick Cruz vs. Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178
Bobby Green vs. Abel Trujillo moved to UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Saint Preux
Jussier Formiga vs. Zach Makovsky moved to UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Saint Preux
Shayna Baszler vs. Bethe Correia moved to UFC 177
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via Davis8185.
Why Can’t UFC 176 Take Place On Fight Pass?
As many of you know, UFC 176 has been canceled. The card got cancelled because Jose Aldo was injured and ruled out of his title fight vs. Chad Mendes. Without Aldo vs. Mendes, this fight card is obviously not a PPV caliber card but how come the UFC can’t use the rest of the fight card and put it on fight pass?
If we remove the main event title fight, you could still construct a fight card having Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi as the main event. If we look at the past main events on fight pass, you could make the argument that Jacare vs. Mousasi would be the best main event of all the fight pass cards.
The UFC has had no problem giving us weak fight cards but the rest of the fight card had some names that casual fans would recognize like Gray Maynard, Lorenz Larkin, Bobby Green, and a good match up between Danny Castillo and Tony Ferguson.
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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