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There is a highly anticipated title fight and, less than two weeks out from the event, one of the contestants has to pull out due to injury. When it becomes known the challenger isn’t going to be making it to the cage on fight night, the champion decides it isn’t in his best interest to fight someone else on short notice... err, I mean, the champion gets hurt, too.
Seriously, you can stop me any time if you know where I’m going here.
It was disappointing to hear that Cain Velasquez was injured yet again and wouldn’t be able to make it for his second date with Fabricio Werdum at UFC 196. What wasn’t surprising was hearing that Werdum had questions about squaring off with Stipe Miocic on 13 days’ notice.
You’ve already seen the full media barrage from the Miocic camp after Werdum pulled out of the potential title fight. It’s clear the Ohioan is unhappy, and who could blame him? It was the opportunity of a lifetime for Stipe -- I get that. But, when I look at it from the champion’s perspective, I understand Werdum’s decision.
Remember back to 2012, when Jon Jones refused to take on Chael Sonnen on eight days’ notice? Not too many people who’ve been around this sport for any period of time will forget the firestorm that engulfed everyone involved with the cancelation of UFC 151.
Have you noticed what’s happened to Jones since then? Well, in regards to his stature in the company anyway?
Yes, Jones is still a big part of the UFC and their promotional machine despite his refusal to fight a different opponent on extremely short notice... and all the other things he has done before and since then. What I’m trying to get at is the fact that it wasn’t anywhere near the career killer many people predicted it would be.
There is just too much at stake for Werdum in this situation. Factor in a reported back injury and it is a no-brainer for “Vai Cavalo” to withdraw. It sucks for Stipe, but that’s the way it goes.
I’m sure Werdum has upset some people, but the easy answer for him is to keep on winning. It really does cure everything (see: Jones, again). Sure, there will be some backlash, but when all is said and done, if Werdum is able to defend the UFC heavyweight belt multiple times, this will be a blip on the radar screen of history.
Maybe it is because we’ve gone through this a couple times now, but the muted public response from the promotion and its fans has been a bit surprising to me. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a welcome change. But, when I got the text message on Monday informing me that Werdum had pulled out of the fight, I immediately wondered who was going to wear the “sport killer” tag this time around.
Perhaps we’re still going to get our sound bite. Either way, there has to be some serious hand wringing going on at the Zuffa offices right now. No offense to Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson, a couple of very talented welterweights, but let’s be realistic here. Neither one of those guys is drawing even an average pay-per-view buy rate come Super Bowl weekend.
I like Josh Barnett and Ben Rothwell, too, but the same logic applies to them. There is no way this card is going to be a revenue bonanza. The only thing that might keep the card from being scrapped in its entirety is the fact that so much promotional capital has already been spent. My sense is that the show will go on and UFC will cobble together a new main event. If not, Hendricks and Thompson will anchor the crippled card.
The big debate, again, comes down to how the promotion schedules their events. I hear people complain about the lack of depth and, in the same breath, complain that there aren’t enough stars being built. It is a strange way to look at things in my opinion.
I do tend to agree that there are way too many cards going on under the UFC banner, but I get that there are television obligations and the need to run pay-per-view cards to maintain the revenue stream. UFC is contractually obligated to do a certain number of shows, and there isn’t much that can be done about it.
Like I said last year, this is the new normal. Get used to it, because these things happen in MMA and they’re going to continue to happen, most likely at a much higher rate as we go forward. The UFC and their fighters are really just victims of their own success. As the stakes get higher for their champions and those who would knock them off, the days of titleholders simply accepting fights to “save” a card are most likely over.
Hell, the UFC deserves a ton of credit on this front, but even they can’t continue to rescue thin cards from the ashes multiple times per year. They just don’t have the same leverage with their top fighters that they have had throughout the years. Canceling a show costs the company a ton of money and disappoints scores of fans, but sometimes you just have to pull the plug. I’m not sure this time qualifies, but I wouldn’t blame them one bit if they decided to scrap this show and spread the fights over the next few months. It would be a body blow for some of the fighters who are relying on their paychecks, but the bigger picture has to be taken into consideration.
The company has been on such a heater lately with really good fight cards piling up in succession. UFC 196 is like the bad hand you knew you had coming. Even though you’re playing with house money, it might be best to muck your hand and see what comes out in the next deal.
Greg Savage is the Executive Editor of Sherdog.com and can be reached by email or via Twitter @TheSavageTruth.