The UFC has officially confirmed that their February 6th event, UFC 196 has been moved from pay-per-view to Fox Sports 1, where it will air for free. The event will now be headlined by former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, and Stephen Thompson, who will now compete in a five-round fight.
The event was first shaken up on Sunday when former heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez pulled out of his main event title fight against the current champion Fabricio Werdum, citing a back injury. With Velasquez now out of the main event, the UFC offered Stipe Miocic (the second top ranked contender) a title shot against Werdum. But the idea of a title match-up between Miocic and Werdum was short lived when Werdum pulled out of the fight the following day.
Werdum explained his withdrawal from the event by saying, “I was already injured. 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. If Cain was the opponent, I would go on. It not’s 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.”
Several other matches were purposed, including a potential interim heavyweight title fight between Miocic and Josh Barnett. Ben Rothwell also offered to fight on the card, as did former light-heavyweight champion, Jon Jones; though Jones only offered to fight if it was for the heavyweight title, not an interim title.
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