If you still haven’t bought a ticket, you might want to see how this plays out.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will likely give top featherweight contender Brian Ortega the chance to steal Frankie Edgar’s 145-pound title shot when the promotion airs its live event on Sat., March 3, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But the jury is still out on whether it will remain the UFC 222 pay-per-view (PPV) event, or be converted into a “Fight Night” card on FOX Sports 1, with Edgar-Ortega as the five-round headliner.
The latest from Twitter:
Edgar vs Ortega is all but done. The question now is whether it’s the main event or not. If UFC can’t find a title fight to headline 3/3 (and thus far no luck), there’s a good chance they’ll turn the PPV into a Fight Night and have Edgar-Ortega be a 5-rounder. (Cont’d)
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 6, 2018
Doesn’t appear as though Dillashaw-Garbrandt will happen on 3/3. They also tried to book Cyborg-Kunitskaya but that’s not happening either. Canceling the card altogether is also on the table. They tried to book Edgar-Ortega on the Orlando card to beef that up but it’s too soon.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 6, 2018
So, lots still up in the air. Last resort is to cancel the card. They’d rather not turn it into a Fight Night but they’ll have to if they can’t produce a title fight and right now there just aren’t many title fight options for less than a month away. Developing.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 6, 2018
Bonkers.
The promotion is unlikely to air a PPV event without a championship title fight and for now, the pickings are slim. The only reason we’re in this predicament is because reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway was pulled from the card after his leg went into business for itself.
At least it wasn’t “murdered.”
No telling yet if UFC 223 becomes UFC 222 in wake of a potential change, but much more details to be revealed in the coming days, for sure.
Stay tuned.