In the early hours of Monday morning, Strikeforce announced that it had canceled its upcoming Sept. 29 show following an injury to its lightweight champion and event headliner, Gilbert Melendez.
That marked the second event cancellation for parent company Zuffa in just over one month.
In making its announcement, Strikeforce said the decision was made to cancel the event when Showtime informed the promotion that they would not be airing it. Late on Monday, the premium cable network released its own statement on the decision its executives made.
Here is the complete statement (updated):
“On Friday night Strikeforce informed us that Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez had sustained an injury and would not be able to compete in their Saturday, September 29 card. Without our headline fighter and main event or a marquee undercard, we reluctantly informed Strikeforce that we could not continue with plans for the telecast.”
Melendez has since said that it was a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the fight. He was scheduled to face Pat Healy. It is not known whether Strikeforce or Showtime had any interest in a replacement for Melendez.
The other four fights that had been scheduled for the main card were Gian Villante vs. Guto Inocente, Josh Thomson vs. Caros Fodor, Isaac Vallie-Flagg vs. Adriano Martins and Jorge Santiago vs. Quinn Mulhern.
Strikeforce said that ticket buyers for the show, which was supposed to be held at Sacramento’s Power Balance Arena, would be able to receive a full refund.