The UFC’s yearly pay-per-view on Super Bowl weekend has typically been a star-studded affair that pops a solid buyrate, though that’s a trend that has slowed in recent years. This year, the injuries suffered by UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum and top contender Cain Velasquez less than two weeks before the event have forced the pay-per-view to be shifted over to cable and FS1, as first reported by Yahoo Sports.
On Sunday, Velasquez pulled out of the main event with a back injury, and the UFC tabbed Stipe Miocic to replace him in the title fight against Werdum. But just a day later, Werdum pulled out of his title defense against Miocic, claiming a litany of injuries that he would have fought through to fight Velasquez, but not Miocic.
The rest of the card is so weak that it would have been shocking if anyone would have actually bought the show on pay-per-view. With the heavyweight title fight between Werdum and Velasquez (or Miocic) off the card, the main event will be former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks taking on Stephen Thompson, a fine fighter on a five-fight winning streak that has fought exactly once on pay-per-view.
The card will continue with four main card bouts, as the Werdum-Velasquez/Miocic tilt simply won’t be replaced on the show. The FS1 prelims start at 8 PM, and the main card starts at 10. This will be the third UFC show on a Fox network in a three week period following the Cruz-Dillashaw FS1 show on January 17th and this weekend’s card on the Fox broadcast network, main evented by Anthony Johnson and Ryan Bader.
The UFC’s Super Bowl weekend card has traditionally been one of the company’s tentpole events each year, but the trend has been fading in recent years. Last year’s UFC 183, headlined by Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, drew 650,000 buys, halting a streak of three straight years with substantial declines in buyrate for the Super Bowl Saturday event. That won’t be a problem this year, as the UFC should easily be able to get some traction with yet another card on cable.
The next UFC show scheduled for pay-per-view is March 5th’s UFC 197, headlined by Rafael dos Anjos vs Conor McGregor and Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate. There are two more Fight Night cards in between UFC 196 and that show, however – one more on FS1 on February 21st, and a February 27th show only on UFC Fight Pass headlined by Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping.
[Yahoo]
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