The UFC 184 card scheduled for Feb. 28 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles has lost it’s main event as middleweight title holder Chris Weidman has suffered a rib injury and has been pulled from his match with Vitor Belfort.
UFC President Dana White is working to find a suitable opponent for Belfort. But for now, the new main event will be the Ronda Rousey vs Cat Zingano women’s bantamweight title fight, and it will likely stay as the main event.
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Anyway you cut it, this is a bad sign for Weidman. The match with Belfort was originally scheduled for last December, but that had to be postponed because Weidman broke a hand. Prior to fighting Anderson Silva the first time back in July of 2013, Weidman had sat out for a year mending an injury. Now, he has defended the belt twice in roughly the last year, so stripping him remains an unlikely option, but the injuries are beginning to add up for the middleweight champ.
Belfort has to be crying over the lost opportunity. He took all of 2014 off, and against all odds he has been able to pass the pre-fight medical tests, whatever they may be. They have to get him a fight, and Belfort is surely more mature now, but he has worried promoters for years about picking opponents and attempting renegotiations.
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The UFC is much more business-like now, just saying that Belfort has always been a pain in the ass. Now there are a load of questions facing White and company. Would a Lyoto Machida fight be possible? Would Belfort fight Gegard Moussasi? Does the UFC undo the Machida-Rockhold fight to give Belfort a rematch with Luke Rockhold? Is Tim Kennedy out there? Will they serve up Michael Bisping again?
Assume we will get blitzed with an overdose of Ronda Rousey, who has been remarkably quiet as of late. The UFC apparently can only handle having one media hog at a time, and they have been too busy pumping Conor McGregor to the masses.
But look for that to change, and in Zingano, Rousey is facing her toughest opponent to date.
