The absolute worst happened Friday evening: the main event of UFC 177, the only fight worth watching on the entire main card save perhaps a female bantamweight fight between feuding fighters, has been lost. Former champion Renan Barao, who was getting an immediate rematch against T.J. Dillashaw, fell ill during the weight cutting process leading into the bout, a bantamweight (135lbs) tilt, and had to be taken to hospital. With no suitable fight on the card able to replace the main event (the co-main event, Tony Ferguson vs. Danny Castillo, has been derided as a fight that could be good, but that has little relevancy and no place at the top of a card), UFC brass were forced to replace Barao with former Bellator featherweight champ Joe Soto, who was to make his UFC debut during the preliminary portion of Saturday's event. This news is an absolute disaster for the UFC, who were already taking serious heat for their decision to air such a weak card as a PPV. A card that had little appeal to UFC fans worldwide now has virtually none, and the UFC is looking at the possibility, the strong possibility, that for the second time this year, a Pay-per-View event will struggle to crack the 100,000 buy level (UFC 174, headlined by a flyweight title fight, was the other event to struggle order-wise). The news also brings the issue of weight cutting to the forefront once again. Though it hasn't yet happened in the UFC, fighters in other promotions have died trying to cut too much weight to make it into a smaller weight class, and while Barao has been fighting at bantamweight for years, this could be his body signalling that it's time to fight at a more natural weight class for his age, frame, and body type. In related news, the Scott Jorgensen vs. Henry Cejudo bout on the preliminary card of 177 also had to be scrapped at the last minute, as Cejudo pulled out due "medical reasons" per a statement from the UFC. There is a very good possibility that those medical reasons, like with Barao, involve cutting weight, as the Cejudo bout was being held at flyweight. Cejudo has had to pull out of several recent bouts as well; this was to be his UFC debut.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
