After losing its main event, UFC 176 has been officially “postponed,” though realistically, it is now cancelled.
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole first reported the news, and the UFC has subsequently confirmed it:
The UFC® has announced that the UFC 176 Pay-Per-View event scheduled for August 2nd will be postponed. The featherweight championship fight between Aldo and Mendes is expected to take place later this year and all other fights previously slated for UFC 176 are being rescheduled for upcoming cards.
Iole tweeted that Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes II is possible for an October pay-per-view in Brazil:
This marks just the second time in company history a pay-per-view was cancelled, the first being UFC 151 in September 2012.
The event was cancelled for essentially the same reason: a late injury to one of the main event fighters, Dan Henderson, forced him off the card, per UFC.com.
Iole later noted in his article on the UFC 176 cancellation that UFC officials considered putting UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey in the August 2 main event, but that plan was scrapped when it was learned that she broke her hand during her 16-second win over Alexis Davis at UFC 175.
Last week, Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reported that Aldo would not be able to square off with “Money” Mendes a second time due to a strained shoulder/spine injury suffered in training.
Since scoring a spectacular knee-strike knockout over Mendes at UFC 142 in January 2012, Scarface has continued his winning ways against formidable foes in Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas.
Aldo is currently riding a 17-fight winning streak, with his sole career loss coming in a lightweight contest all the way back in November 2005.
Mendes, in his own right, has looked impressive since his lone defeat inside the cage.
Since coming up short against Aldo, the Team Alpha Male standout has rattled off five consecutive victories, four of which came via knockout.
UFC 176 also would have featured a lightweight scrap between Tony Ferguson and Danny Castillo, a showdown between Bobby Green and Abel Trujillo and Gray Maynard’s return against Fabricio Camoes.
Additionally, a high-profile middleweight clash between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi has to be rescheduled.
UFC 177, which is headlined by a bantamweight championship rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao on Aug. 30, takes place at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California, and remains intact.
The other two championship bouts currently scheduled for 2014 are Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson II at UFC 178 in September and Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 in November.
Is this a perfect example of the UFC overextending itself with such an active schedule of events, or is it simply a smart and necessary business decision, considering the circumstances?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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