Should Demetrious Johnson Fight TJ Dillashaw
8. No – UFC Can't Promote A Fight They Might Scrap With 24 Hours Notice
In making his pitch for the DJ vs. TJ fight, Dana White revealed he'd book Ray Borg on the same card in the event if anything happened with Dillashaw's weight cut. That's a major promotional red flag. How can you justify selling tickets, selling pay-per-views, and generally advertising a fight you're transparently admitting might not happen? It screams of promotional malpractice to me.
Many people buy pay-per-views a few days in advance. Obviously almost everyone will have bought tickets weeks in advance. To scrap the fight with 24 hours notice is just a bad look. Not to mention it's a big middle finger to the champion to change his opponent with 24 hours notice. And what about whoever they book Ray Borg against? He does his training camp and weight cut and then loses his fight because someone he has nothing to do with misses weight?
Obviously any fight can drop at the last minute, and while openly preparing for it can look responsible, it's just openly admitting that what you're promoting comes with a potential caveat.