MMA Junkie reports that an injury to Chris Weidman will push back his title defense at UFC 173 in May to UFC 175 in July. The UFC indicated that a new headliner will be announced to replace the title fight although at this point Junior dos Santos-Stipe Miocic is at the top of the card.
According to the Junkie article, the light heavyweight champion will have minor surgery for a knee injury. The fight will be delayed a little over a month and will headline UFC 175 which occurs during International Fight week.
The card, occurring on Memorial Day weekend, has featured the Heavyweight division the last couple years. Last year featured Cain Velasquez and Bigfoot Silva which garnered only 380,000 PPV buys. In 2012, JDS-Frank Mir headlining received 560,000 PPV buys. (via MMA Payout Blue Book). Junior dos Santos is slated to face Stipe Miocic in what is now the main event at UFC 173.
Payout Perspective:
Initially, this card was to be Weidman-Belfort but with the NSAC voting to ban TRT and eliminate TUEs, Belfort gave up his spot. Even with Machida, a dangerous opponent for Weidman, it did not seem like a fight that would attract a lot of PPV buys. Unless there are dramatic moves, UFC 173 may do worse than last year’s disappointment of 380,000 PPV buys.
On the other hand, UFC 175 could be a very strong card with Weidman-Machida and the possibility of Ronda Rousey fighting on the same card. Couple this card with Penn-Edgar the night after at the TUF Finale and International Fight week will be one of the biggest ever for the UFC.
More bad news Hahaha….
Ronda the most media covered athlete according to dw to the rescue…..lol
The MMA curse. So many ways to get hurt in training.