Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez II

10 Biggest UFC Fight Cancellations In 2016

2016 has been a hugely successful year for the UFC in many respects, but while fans have been treated to some of the biggest fights and most stacked cards in the history of the sport, the age old problem of major fights falling through has continued to be a thorn in the promotion’s flesh. In

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In this article we’ll take a look back at the 10 biggest fights to have fallen by the wayside in the past 12 months, and it’s a star-studded selection of mouth-watering match-ups that includes no less than five title-fights that slipped through the net.

In all, a remarkable eight of the 10 fights listed were actually scheduled to headline an event, and with some of them falling through on anything from a few days to a few weeks notice, it’s something of a minor miracle that, for the most part, the UFC has been able to roll with the punches and come out on top in the end.

That being said, the ramifications of some of these bouts being canceled has been massive at times, and in some cases has led to not only the fight being called off, but entire events being razed to the ground in one fell swoop, costing the UFC a fortune in the process and robbing fans of the chance to see their heroes in action at pivotal moments in their careers.

Fabricio Werdum delivered something of an upset at UFC 188 in Mexico City in 2015 when he submitted reigning heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez with a guillotine choke.

Velasquez had been uncharacteristically lethargic during the fight, with his camp later suggesting that he’d been caught out by the unusually high altitude in the city, which helped their push for an immediate rematch, with fans curious to see if ‘Sea-level Cain’ would fare any better against the Brazilian.

The second fight was booked to headline what was at the time known as UFC 196 on February 2nd in Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend, but disaster struck when Velasquez was forced out with a back injury on less than two weeks notice.

Werdum then also withdrew from the show due to injuries of his own, leaving the UFC in a very awkward spot that eventually forced them to cancel UFC 196 as a pay-per-view event, instead putting the remaining fight cards on free TV as ‘UFC Fight Night 82.’

It’s a move that would that would cost them millions of dollars, and that’s before factoring in the costly and confusing process of having to renumber all their other forthcoming numbered PPV and ‘Fight Night’ events due to the cancelation.

Meanwhile, with Velaquez out of action for several months, Werdum would instead go on to fight Stipe Miocic at UFC 198 in May and promptly lost his title by way of a first round TKO stoppage.

Werdum vs. Velasquez II will now finally go ahead at UFC 207 on December 30th, though this time there won’t be a title on the line.

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Josh Barnett Offers To Fight Stipe Miocic For Heavyweight Title

The UFC’s heavyweight division has been thrown for quite the loop in the past two days. Yesterday (January 24, 2015) it was announced that former champion Cain Velasquez was out of his scheduled rematch with champion Fabricio Werdum at February 6’s UFC 196 due to injury. No. 2-ranked Stipe Miocic quickly stepped in to take

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The UFC’s heavyweight division has been thrown for quite the loop in the past two days.

Yesterday (January 24, 2015) it was announced that former champion Cain Velasquez was out of his scheduled rematch with champion Fabricio Werdum at February 6’s UFC 196 due to injury. No. 2-ranked Stipe Miocic quickly stepped in to take on “Vai Cavalo”, but it was reported earlier today that the Brazilian was also pulling out of the bout due to an injury, leaving the promotion and Miocic in a limbo.

In the midst of all of the commotion, No. 8-ranked former divisional king Josh “The Warmaster” Barnett, who’s slated to meet Ben Rothwell at this weekend’s UFC on FOX 18, offered to take on Miocic for the title if need be:

“If they page me 911, if they send me the number, I will absolutely take the fight,” Barnett told MMAFighting. “If they want a heavyweight championship main event, I’m your man. I’ll go in. I’ll take care of business and I’ll give them what they want. I’ll give them what they need, which is a healthy, motivated championship fighter. That’s what they’ll get.”

“Interim title,” Barnett said. “It’s set up for a title match. Let’s keep it going. That’s what they need on Super Bowl weekend. They need a title fight. They need a heavyweight title fight. That’s what we can provide. Former champ and a No. 1 contender. That’s what people want to see. They want to see championship level fights. They want to see the top guys go at it. We can do it.”

“The Warmaster” continued on, saying that he’s completely healthy, and if it were up to him he would go five rounds for the title right now:

“I’m ready,” Barnett said. “I’m willing. I’m capable. I’ll fight Stipe. I’ll go five rounds for a heavyweight title right now. We’re good.”

“For whatever reason, Werdum is hurt, Cain is hurt,” Barnett said, “Stipe stepped up and now Stipe doesn’t have a partner to dance with. I’ll dance with him. And then we’ll fight. And then maybe I’ll dance with him again afterwards. A nice slow one. When we’re all beat up and bruised and battered. When we’re vulnerable. That’s the time to go cheek to cheek on the dance floor.”

Although an interesting proposition, the idea is quite unlikely given Barnett’s upcoming fight, and the fact that Werdum should only be out for a few months.

“The Warmaster’s” opponent, Rothwell, also took to his official twitter account to voice his displeasure towards the idea:

‘ @UFCONFOX @ufc funny you would promote that-we are fighting in less than a week, on Fox- As if I wouldn’t take the fight? B…. please

— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) January 26, 2016

What should the UFC do regarding not only UFC 196, but the heavyweight division in general?

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Werdum Would’ve Fought Velasquez Injured, Miocic’s Manager Blasts Champ

Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum was supposed to defend his title for the very first time at February 6, 2016’s UFC 196 in a rematch against former boss Cain Velasquez. Things were shaken up, however, when Velasquez was forced out of the bout yesterday (January 24, 2015) due to a back injury

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Things were shaken up, however, when Velasquez was forced out of the bout yesterday (January 24, 2015) due to a back injury suffered in training. The UFC quickly announced that No. 2-ranked Stipe Miocic would step up on short notice to battle Werdum for the title, which is why fans were so shocked to hear today (January 25, 2016) that Werdum will also be pulling out of the fight due to an injury.

Speaking with MMAFighting.com, “Vai Cavalo” elaborated on his injury, adding in that if Velasquez hadn’t pulled out that he would’ve still fought:

“I was already injured,” Werdum told Brazilian journalists on Monday. “I have a foot injury, and haven’t been able to throw kicks in training for two weeks. I would still fight Cain because I was injured the last time, but I also hurt my back last Friday. I went to the doctor, tried to continue training, but couldn’t spar as I should spar.

“I decided not to fight because I’m not 100 percent,” he continued. “If Cain was the opponent, I would go on. It’s not his fault, it’s nobody’s fault. Injuries happen. You can’t avoid them. I have no option. I made this decision because I’m not feeling 100 percent.”

Team Miocic wasn’t too pleased with this, as the Croatian’s manger said a champion shouldn’t “pick and choose opponents”:

“We’re extremely disappointed to hear that Werdum is pulling out of the fight,” Miocic’s manager, Greg Kalikas, told MMAFighting.com via text message. “If he’s [Werdum is] healthy enough to defend against Cain, we can’t understand why he’s not healthy enough to fight Stipe, who would only have 12 days to prepare for him as it stands.

“A champion shouldn’t pick and choose opponents. A true champion fights all comers. If he won’t fight Stipe with a short camp, are we supposed to believe he’d fight Stipe coming off a full training camp? No, he wouldn’t… and that’s a bad look for the supposed best heavyweight on the planet. All we can hope is that Werdum ‘heals’ up quick and will agree to fight Stipe sooner rather than later.”

Do you agree with Miocic’s manager, or should Werdum heal up and fight at his best?

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Video: Cain Velasquez Bashes Brock Lesnar Bloody In California

Cain Velasquez was once the baddest man on the planet, here’s how he earned that title. WWE crossover Brock Lesnar was simply no match… There once was a time in MMA history that size and brute strength was nearly the deciding factor in the UFC heavyweight division. No, I’m not talking about the dark ages of

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Cain Velasquez was once the baddest man on the planet, here’s how he earned that title. WWE crossover Brock Lesnar was simply no match…

There once was a time in MMA history that size and brute strength was nearly the deciding factor in the UFC heavyweight division. No, I’m not talking about the dark ages of the UFC or the Pride FC days, this was as recent as circa 2009. Behemoth pro wrestling convert Brock Lesnar ruled the heavyweights in the UFC at that time, having got four straight wins over Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin.

Then came his fateful fight with Cain Velasquez, a hungry up and comer with violence on his mind and fire in his heart. The two were scheduled to face off at UFC 121 in 2010, and the stage was set for a colossal heavyweight title clash. A win for Lesnar would surely cement his position as the undisputed 265-pound boss, for Velasquez it would mean a new era for the division. What transpired was a brutal and bloody beatdown.

Velasquez had not respect for the wrestling or striking of the champion, as he set about viciously beating the bigger man around the octagon. It soon became apparent that Lesnar was no longer the king of the division, as Velasquez smeared the champ’s chops all over the canvas.

The result was a resounding TKO victory for Velasquez, and he would go on to hold the title (on and off) until 2015, albeit with numerous injury layoffs and a knockout loss to Junior dos Santos in between. He then faced Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188, and was smashed himself before being submitted by ‘Vai Cavalo.’

Ahead of his UFC 196 rematch with Werdum, check out some of Cain Velasquez’s best handy work, as he batters Brock Lesnar to a pulp:

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Report: Vitor Belfort Turned Down Rematch With Anderson Silva

Former legendary UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is set to make his return to action after serving out a year-long suspension at February 26’s UFC Fight Night 83 against Michael Bisping. Originally, however, it was thought that “The Spider” would be rematching Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort at March’s UFC 197 in Brazil. The

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Originally, however, it was thought that “The Spider” would be rematching Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort at March’s UFC 197 in Brazil.

The promotion was aiming to have heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum defend his title against former champion Cain Velasquez at this card, but that rematch has now been scheduled for next month’s UFC 196 in Las Vegas.

With the moving of the heavyweight title tilt, the plan was to have the two Brazilian legends square off in their native land, but obviously the situation fell through.

According to UFC senior vice president Giovani Decker, “The Spider” had accepted the bout, but it was Belfort who had turned it down:

“With the card losing a title fight as big as that one, we thought this card would fit better at the Arena, no longer at a soccer stadium,” Decker told Combate. “But we couldn’t get the deal done with Vitor Belfort. Anderson accepted the fight, but Vitor decided to wait to see what would happen in the fight between Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold (at UFC 194), and he was right, because Rockhold won and called him out at the UFC 194 post-fight press conference, which was a good sign for him.”

Continuing on, Decker made it clear that “The Phenom” didn’t necessarily not want the fight with Silva, but apparently his eyes are on a title shot, leading the UFC to bump Werdum vs. Velasquez up a month earlier:

“Many people said Vitor didn’t want this fight, and that wasn’t the truth,” he continued. “He wants it, he made it clear it will happen at some time, but for him, thinking about his career and what he has ahead of him at this moment, this fight wouldn’t make sense. We were running out of time, and the UFC needed to announce the UFC 196 main event in Las Vegas. That’s why the fight between Werdum and Velasquez ended up there.”

UFC 197 has now been moved to Las Vegas, and has been turned in to a blockbuster event. Featherweight champion and mega star Conor McGregor will jump up a weight class to challenge for his second title against 155-pound boss Rafael dos Anjos. Newly minted bantamweight champion Holly Holm will also defend her crown against Miesha Tate.

As for Belfort, it’s currently unclear as to what we’ll be next.

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