Dear Dana,
It seems like after every event there is something lingering that needs to be addressed. Last week, I mentioned how Chael Sonnen should be cut from the UFC and kicked off the Fox broadcasting team. Of course, you read my article (I assume you did) and quickly realised that it was the right thing to do. This time, I hope you listen to my advice yet again.
Cancel UFC 176!
I feel like this point doesn’t need as much explaining or thought as I’ll give, but for fun, I’ll run down the reasons why UFC 176 should be cancelled.
The Disaster of UFC 161.
Do you remember UFC 161? Maybe you wiped it from your memory, so I’ll give you a refresher. UFC 161 was suppose to be headlined by Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland, with Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Little Nog on the main card. Both the main event and Shogun vs Little Nog were scrapped due to injury, but the event remained.
The main event was a bust, as Evans and Henderson fought to a boring decision, with the PPV selling less than 150,000 units.
UFC 176 is less than a month away, and currently the biggest fight on the card is Jacare Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi, followed up by Gray Maynard vs. Fabricio Camoes. Even with the inclusion of Aldo vs. Mendes, this PPV was going to do less than stellar sales. Without the title fight headlining, this card barely passes the grade as a Fight Night card.
So, What Would Save the Card?
At this point, nothing. Every champion is either scheduled for a fight, on the shelf due to an injury, or has fought less than two months ago. The best the UFC could do on short notice is match Mendes and Cub Swanson. That is, if Swanson has recovered from the five round slugfest he had a week or so ago with Jeremy Stephens, which is unlikely.
The only other possibility is to take Lawler vs. Brown off of the Fox card scheduled a week before UFC 176 and put it as the main event. Yet again though, this would mean the cancellation of a Fox card, and would still result in poor PPV sales.
As of right now, there aren’t many possibilities. There is no champion that can step up and save the card, and there are no number one contender fights that could make the card watchable. UFC 176 cannot be saved.
It’s Been Done Before
Although many consider it to be a dark spot on the UFC’s record, cancelling UFC 151 in September of 2012 ended up being the best move for the UFC. The card was shallow, and with the main event scrapped, the only thing that could be done was cancel the show. The UFC has more time to save UFC 176, but they have little that can be done.
The cancellation of UFC 151 added much needed bulk to UFC 152, which then saw two title fights, Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort and Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez. UFC 177, which is headlined by a Dillashaw vs. Barao rematch, could use the extra bulk as both fighters have yet to establish themselves as PPV draws.
So please Dana, don’t make the hardcore fans give their hard earned money just to watch Souza and Mousasi fight. Cancel the card, move fights over to UFC 177 and 178, and learn from your mistakes. You can no longer set up a PPV with such a shallow card. Giving a fight card depth is what stops these situations from happening.
Injuries will continue to happen. You cannot prevent these injuries, but you can prevent entire cards being scrapped due to these injuries. Less events, more quality fight cards.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @MikeHutchLWOS. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
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