The UFC has announced that the UFC 176 Pay-Per-View event scheduled for August 2 will be postponed. The featherweight championship fight scheduled to headline the event at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles was dropped from the card last week when champion Jose Aldo sustained an injury making him unable to defend his title against No. 1 ranked featherweight Chad Mendes.
“I’m so disappointed I was on point with my training and weight,” Mendes said. “I heard he’s only going to be out about 45 days, so hopefully we will fight sooner instead of later.”
The featherweight championship fight between Aldo and Mendes is expected to take place later this year and all other fights previously slated for UFC 176 are being rescheduled for upcoming cards. For the first time since UFC 151 in August 2012, the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion will be forced to cancel an event because of a lack of depth/star power.
As the STAPLES Center event will no longer take place, ticket refunds will be offered at the original point of purchase. If tickets were purchased from AXS via www.axs.com or Purchase By Phone, refunds will be received automatically via AXS. Tickets purchased from the STAPLES Center box office can be refunded there, beginning Wednesday, July 9. Those who purchased tickets at any other outlet should reach out to that original point of purchase and contact them directly for a refund.
The next pay-per-view event will remain titled UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Barao II at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California. Tickets for UFC 177 go on-sale Friday, July 18. Dillashaw will be defending the UFC Bantamweight championship he won from Barao at UFC 173 in May.
A member of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, Dillashaw is 6-2 in the UFC. His most recent loss came via split decision to Raphael Assuncao in October. That fight took place in Brazil.
Prior to UFC 173, Barao (32-2) had not suffered a professional loss since April 2005. The Brazilian bantamweight is 7-1 in the UFC, including finishes over Urijah Faber, Eddie Wineland and Michael McDonald.
Kendrick Johnson writes for a daily newspaper and is an independent print journalist and sports television reporter who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, championship boxing and UFC Fights. He’s done numerous interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports. He can be reached at kendrick_e_johnson@yahoo.com or on Twitter @kendrickjohnso
