The UFC has just officially confirmed that their planned Jan. 21 event in Anaheim, California has been scrapped.
The news was announced on the UFC’s official website stating that the Anaheim event will be shifted to August meaning that the highly anticipated UFC 209 scheduled to take place on the 11th of February in Brooklyn, will now become the new UFC 208.
UFC announced today that its Jan. 21 Pay-Per-View event at Honda Center in Anaheim, California has been rescheduled to Aug. 5. The event will remain a Pay-Per-View broadcast. UFC 208 will be shifted to the Feb. 11 event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The Anaheim event was reportedly cancelled after the UFC were unable to find any viable headliner for the card. Speaking recently, lightweight contender Tony Ferguson told Fox Sports that he had been approached about a possible fight at UFC 208 but nothing ever materialised.
According to Ferguson, the company were looking to pair him up with the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov with the winner likely to face Conor McGregor upon his return to the octagon.
However, with Khabib having recently stated that he has no intention of fighting before March, it looks like such a bout was never really on the cards for Anaheim.
With many expecting the Diaz brothers to make their return at UFC 209 in Brooklyn, it now looks like fans of the Stockton duo will be left waiting to see Nick and Nate in action again.
With the Brooklyn event now becoming the replacement UFC 208, the real UFC 209 is scheduled to take place on the 4th of March in the T-Moblile Arena in Las Vegas.
We can’t wait…
Anaheim's UFC 208 officially scrapped on Jan. 21. 208 is now the 2/11 event in BK. UFC will go back to OC on 8/5 for PPV, per the promotion.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) 1 декабря 2016 г.
Had heard there was a chance of a January UFC event getting reshuffled and now it's official. 208 in Anaheim on Jan. 21 has been scrapped.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) 1 декабря 2016 г.
Change your hashtags. #UFC209 in Brooklyn is now #UFC208. The 1/21 PPV event in Anaheim moved to August 5.
— Mark La Monica (@LaMonicaMark) 1 декабря 2016 г.