MMA Junkie reports that Renan Barao is out of tomorrow’s UFC 177 main event against T.J. Dillashaw. Barao passed out while attempting to cut weight for Friday’s weigh-ins. As a result, former Bellator champ and newcomer Joe Soto gets the shot tomorrow night.
Soto was set to take on Anthony Birchak on the prelim card. Now, he gets the title shot on Saturday. The sudden change is another hit to a card that has been harshly criticized for the lack of star power and interesting fights for a PPV.
Payout Perspective:
Even before the news of Barao needing to be replaced, this card was a hard sell. Realistically, I’m not sure how much the loss of Barao cost PPV buys unless people wanted to see the rematch. Now, we may assume less people are likely to pay for a Soto-Dillashaw main event. The UFC is not going to cancel the card and its not feasible to convert the card to an FS1 show. So, the UFC will have to rely on its hardcore base for buys. While we thought that UFC 174 was the low-water mark for UFC PPVs, it looks like 177 will be lower.
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