UFC 176 became the second canceled event in history. Photo: Disclosure
For the second time in its history, faced with an injury to the star of the program and the lack of available options to replace the fight that headlines the night, Ultimate will find itself having to cancel an event. With the injury of José Aldo and the subsequent suspension of his fight against Chad Mendes for the featherweight belt, the organization announced that UFC 176, scheduled for August 2nd in Los Angeles (USA), has been cancelled.
Despite the cancellation of the event, the duel between Aldo and Mendes should still take place, possibly in October. The other fights scheduled for the night, including the clash between the Brazilian Ronaldo Jacare and Armenian-Dutch Gegard Mousasi, will still be distributed to the following cards. According to the “MMA Junkie” website, the organization offers refunds to fans who have already purchased tickets, whose sales would already total US$800. Now, the next numbered event will be UFC 177, which features a rematch for the bantamweight belt between Renan Barao e TJ Dillashaw as the main fight and takes place on August 30th, in Sacramento (USA).
The first time that Ultimate canceled a fight night was in 2012. At the time, Dan Henderson would face Jon Jones for the light heavyweight belt at UFC 151, but was injured and removed from the schedule about a week before the fight. The organization even tried to find a replacement for Henderson, but the proposed challengers did not accept the challenge with so little preparation time. On the other hand, Chael Sonnen offered himself for the position, but had his name rejected by Jones. Faced with the impasse, it was up to Ultimate, as was repeated this time, to cancel the event.
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