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Every UFC Fight Change and Cancellation of 2017

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With this calendar year of 2018 creeping to a close, I thought it would be appropriate reflecting back one year prior to the days of 2017. That year had brought us many high’s, such as the thrilling three-belt switch from UFC 217 and the seven first-round stoppages at UFC Fight Night 114. We also cannot forget about the thrilling welterweight fight between Yancy Medeiros and Alex Oliveira, or the lightweight bout on the same card between Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje. Aside from these positives, there were many let-downs in 2017. The most common, recurring theme that occurs every year frustrating us all: fight cancellations (and changes). News will drop quite often about a fighter sustaining an injury in practice or a USADA drug test gone wrong, resulting in that fighter being removed from an event entirely. After hours of research and statistical gathering, MMASucka presents to you every UFC fight change and cancellation of 2017.

All of the fights below underneath the “Overall Statistics” have a source included indicating that the fight change and/or cancellation did occur. The assistance in confirmation comes with these sources and Tapology. The following list DOES NOT include:

—–-Fights discussed/linked to an event but never made official
—–-Fights removed due to the cancellation of an entire fight card


Overall Statistics:

In total, 135 officially scheduled UFC fights were changed or cancelled in 2017 across 39 different events. This number is 16 less than the year prior (2016).

Below lists the total number of fight changes and cancellations from each category, ranked from most to least.

—–1. Injury = 80
—–2. USADA doping violation = 12
—–3. Personal issue = 10
—–4. Medical issue or not medically cleared = 10
—–5. Illness = 7
—–6. Fight rescheduling for a different event = 4
—–7. Fighter rescheduled to fight someone else = 3
—–8. Visa issue = 3
—–9. Staph infection = 2
—–10. Travel issue = 1
—–11. Unfulfilled USADA testing pool requirements = 1
—–12. Fighter missing weight = 1
—–13. Unknown reasoning = 1

The 39 UFC events were divided by pay-per-view, FOXFight Night, and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) showings. Below indicates the number of fight changes and cancellations that resulted from each of the four different types of events:

—–21 Fight Night events = 71 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (52.6%)
—–12 PPV events = 46 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (34.1%)
—–4 FOX events = 12 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (8.9%)
—–2 TUF events = 6 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (4.4%)

The following 12 fighters had a fight changed/cancelled due to a USADA doping violation.
—–George Sullivan                       Ben Rothwell
—–Kelvin Gastelum                      Amanda Ribas
—–Marcos Rogerio de Lima         Junior dos Santos
—–Carlos Felipe                           Ion Cutelaba
—–Jesse Taylor                            Anderson Silva
—–James Mulheron                     Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Out of the 80 injuries that resulted in a fight change or cancellation in 2017: Bryan Caraway, Christian Colombo, Damian Grabowski, John Phillips, and Sheldon Westcott were the five fighters to pull out of a fight more than once due to an injury, each pulling out twice.

Three fights listed below were cancelled in 2017 due to both fighters getting injured.
—–Hector Lombard vs. Brad Tavares
—–Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo
—–Sage Northcutt vs. John Makdessi

Neil Seery, Todd Duffee, Henry Briones, Dmitry Poberezhets, Magnus Cedenblad, Nadia Kassem, Jonathan Meunier, Megan Anderson, Dmitry Sosnovskiy, and Joanne Calderwood were the ten total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a personal issue.

Tom Breese, Thibault Gouti, Mizuto Hirota, Ian Entwistle, Nik Lentz, Mark Hunt, John Lineker, Luis Henrique, Justin Willis and Sijara Eubanks were the ten total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to either medical issues or not being medically cleared.

Ian McCall, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jared Gordon, Aspen Ladd, Amanda Nunes, Ray Borg, and Felipe Arantes were the seven total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to illness.

Four total fights in 2017 were rescheduled to occur at a different event:
—–Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne
—–Dmitry Smolyakov vs. Adam Wieczorek
—–Adam Wieczorek vs. Anthony Hamilton
—–Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Sabah Homasi

Walt HarrisRoxanne Modafferi, and Jose Aldo were the only three fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to being rescheduled to fight someone else.

Drex ZamboangaPriscila Cachoeira, and Emil Meek were the only three fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a visa issue.

Donald Cerrone and Patrick Cummins were the only two fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a staph infection.

Thiago Alves was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a travel issue. This occured as a result from Hurricane Irma.

Andrea Lee was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to unfulfilled USADA testing pool requirements.

Pietro Menga was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to missing weight. Surprisingly, he missed weight due to not appearing at the weigh-ins at all.

Alex Nicholson was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to an unknown, undisclosed reason.

Alexander Volkanovski experienced the most change to a fight before finding an opponent. In total, three scheduled fights were cancelled at UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura for Volkanovski; two fighters due to injury (Kennedy and Banedenay) and one fighter due to a visa issue (Zamboanga).

Two UFC cards tied for the most fight changes or cancellations of 2017. Each suffered a total of seven fight changes/cancellations.
—–UFC 208 (Holm vs. De Randamie)
—–UFC on Fox 26 (Lawler vs. Dos Anjos)

Four UFC cards in 2017 saw NO fight changes and/or cancellations.
—–UFC 210 (Cormier vs. Johnson 2)
—–UFC on Fox 24 (Johnson vs. Reis)
—–UFC Fight Night 108 (Swanson vs. Lobov)
—–UFC Fight Night 120 (Poirier vs. Pettis)

Fight changes/cancellations from both male and female weight classes, ranked in order from most to least. To note: these orders are partially affected in some way due to how many fighters were signed to the UFC’s roster in each weight class, along with how many fights were scheduled in that particular weight class.

MEN’S
—–1. Heavyweight (265 pounds): 23
—–2. Welterweight (170 pounds): 18
—–3. Lightweight (155 pounds): 17
—–4. Light Heavyweight (205 pounds): 15
—–5. Featherweight (145 pounds): 14
—–6. Bantamweight (135 pounds): 13
—–7. Middleweight (185 pounds): 11
—–8. Flyweight (125 pounds): 9

WOMEN’S
—–1T. Bantamweight (135 pounds): 6
—–1T. Flyweight (125 pounds): 6
—–3. Strawweight (115 pounds): 2
—–4. Featherweight (145 pounds): 1

A total of six fights resulted from two fighters who had a fight scheduled with someone else (either on the same card OR separate cards), but as a result from various factors, ended up fighting each other:

—–1. James Vick vs. Abel TrujilloVick was to fight Johnny Case, while Trujillo was to fight Evan Dunham. An injury to both Case and Dunham formed the pairing between Vick and Trujillo.
—–
2. Walt Harris vs. Fabricio Werdum
Harris was to fight Mark Godbeer, while Werdum was to fight Derrick Lewis. An injury to Lewis formed the pairing between Harris and Werdum, seeing Godbeer removed from the card completely.
—–3. Nicco Montano vs. Roxanne Modafferi
. Montano was to fight Sijara Eubanks, while Modafferi was to fight Barb Honchak. A medical issue for Eubanks formed the pairing between Montano and Modafferi, seeing Honchak shifted to a different fight herself (look one below).
—–4. Lauren Murphy vs. Barb HonchakMurphy was to fight Priscila Cachoeira, while Honchak was to fight Roxanne Modafferi. A visa issue for Cachoeira formed the pairing between Murphy and Honchak, seeing Modafferi shifted to the title fight with Montano (look one above).
—–5. Max Holloway vs. Jose AldoHolloway was to fight Frankie Edgar, while Aldo was to fight Ricardo Lamas. An injury to Edgar formed the pairing between Holloway and Aldo, seeing Lamas fight another opponent.
—–6. Nordine Taleb vs. Danny RobertsTaleb was to fight Sultan Aliev, while Roberts was to fight Sheldon Westcott. An injury to both Aliev and Westcott formed the pairing between Taleb and Roberts.

A total of 67 fights received a replacement opponent *EXCLUDING* the six bouts mentioned above:

—–Replacement LOSS 38 of 67 fights (56.7%)
—–Replacement WIN
 = 26 of 67 fights (38.8%)
—–Replacement OVERTURNED = 2 of 67 fights (3.0%)
—–Replacement DRAW = 1 of 67 fights (1.5%)

Niko Price and Michal Oleksiejczuk were the only replacement opponents to have their result overturned.

Bobby Green was the only replacement opponent to have his result end in a draw.


JANUARY

UFC Fight Night 103: Rodriguez vs. Penn
—–Date: January 15th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

  • Bryan Caraway vs. Jimmie Rivera (Caraway injury, Rivera removed from card)
  • Viktor Pesta vs. Damian Grabowski (Grabowski injury, Pesta would face Alexey Oliynyk)
  • Erik Koch vs. Tony Martin (Koch injury, Martin would face Alex White)
  • Devin Powell vs. Jordan Rinaldi (Rinaldi injury, Powell would face Drakkar Klose)
  • Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis (Formiga injury, Pettis would face John Moraga)

UFC on Fox 23: Shevchenko vs. Pena
—–Date: January 28th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE


FEBRUARY

UFC Fight Night 104: Bermudez vs. Korean Zombie
—–Date: February 4th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

  • Johnny Case vs. James Vick (Case injury, Vick would face Abel Trujillo)
  • Evan Dunham vs. Abel Trujillo (Dunham injury, Trujillo would face James Vick)
  • Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jan Blachowicz (Blachowicz injury, Preux would face Volkan Oezdemir)
  • Justin Ledet vs. Dmitry Sosnovskiy (Ledet injury, Sosnovskiy removed from card)
  • Alex Morono vs. Sheldon Westcott (Westcott injury, Morono would face Niko Price)

UFC 208: Holm vs. De Randamie
—–Date: February 11th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SEVEN

UFC Fight Night 105: Lewis vs. Browne
—–Date: February 19th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

  • Alessandro Ricci vs. Alvaro Herrera (Herrera injury, Ricci would face Paul Felder)
  • Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve (Struve injury, dos Santos removed from card)
  • Liz Carmouche vs. Sara McMann (Carmouche injury, McMann would face Gina Mazany)
  • Alexander Volkanovski vs. Michel Quinones (Quinones injury, Volkanovski removed from card)

MARCH

UFC 209: Woodley vs. Thompson 2
—–Date: March 4th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

  • Todd Duffee vs. Mark Godbeer (Duffee personal issue, Godbeer would face Daniel Spitz)
  • Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson (Nurmagomedov illness, Ferguson removed from card)
  • Ed Herman vs. Igor Pokrajac (Pokrajac injury, Herman scheduled to face Gadzhimurad Antigulov)
  • Ed Herman vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (Herman injury, Antigulov removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 106: Belfort vs. Gastelum
—–Date: March 11th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

  • Henrique da Silva vs. Ion Cutelaba (Cutelaba injury, da Silva removed from card)
  • Alex Nicholson vs. Paulo Borrachinha (Nicholson unknown reasoning, Borrachinha would face Garreth McLellan)
  • Godofredo Pepey vs. Kyle Bochniak (Pepey injury, Bochniak removed from card)
  • Sergio Moraes vs. Max Griffin (Griffin injury, Moraes would face Davi Ramos)

UFC Fight Night 107: Manuwa vs. Anderson
—–Date: March 18th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR


APRIL

UFC 210: Cormier vs. Johnson 2
—–Date: April 8th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

  • No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC on Fox 24: Johnson vs. Reis
—–Date: April 15th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

  • No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC Fight Night 108: Swanson vs. Lobov
—–Date: April 22nd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

  • No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

MAY

UFC 211: Miocic vs. Dos Santos 2
—–Date: May 13th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

UFC Fight Night 109: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira
—–Date: May 28th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

  • Magnus Cedenblad vs. Chris Camozzi (Cedenblad personal issue, Camozzi would face Trevor Smith)
  • Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo (Grabowski and Colombo injury, both removed from card)
  • Mairbek Taisumov vs. Joaquim Silva (Taisumov injury, Silva would face Reza Madadi)
  • Emil Meek vs. Nordine Taleb (Meek injury, Taleb would face Oliver Enkamp)

JUNE

UFC 212: Aldo vs. Holloway
—–Date: June 3rd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

UFC Fight Night 110: Lewis vs. Hunt
—–Date: June 11th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

UFC Fight Night 111: Holm vs. Correia
—–Date: June 17th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

UFC Fight Night 112: Chiesa vs. Lee
—–Date: June 25th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO


JULY

The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale: Johnson vs. Gaethje
—–Date: July 7th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

  • Steve Bosse vs. Jared Cannonier (Bosse injury, Cannonier would face Nick Roehrick)
  • Jessica Eye vs. Aspen Ladd (Ladd illness, Eye removed from card)
  • Juliana Lima vs. Amanda Ribas (Ribas doping violation, Lima would face Tecia Torres)

UFC 213: Romero vs. Whittaker
—–Date: July 8th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

  • Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone (Cerrone staph infection, Lawler removed from card)
  • Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw (Garbrandt injury, Dillashaw removed from card)
  • Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko (Nunes illness, Shevchenko removed from card)
  • Alan Jouban vs. Brian Camozzi (Jouban injury, Camozzi would face Chad Laprise)

UFC Fight Night 113: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio
—–Date: July 16th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

  • Mark Godbeer vs. Justin Willis (Godbeer injury, Willis would face James Mulheron)
  • Mitch Gagnon vs. Brett Johns (Gagnon injury, Johns would face Albert Morales)
  • Leslie Smith vs. Lina Lansberg (Lansberg injury, Smith would face Amanda Lemos)

UFC on Fox 25: Weidman vs. Gastelum
—–Date: July 22nd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

  • Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo (Colombo injury, Grabowski would face Chase Sherman)
  • Rafael Natal vs. Alessio Di Chirico (Di Chirico injury, Natal would face Eryk Anders)

UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2
—–Date: July 29th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX


AUGUST

UFC Fight Night 114: Pettis vs. Moreno
—–Date: August 5th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ONE


SEPTEMBER

UFC Fight Night 115: Volkov vs. Struve
—–Date: September 2nd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Saparbek Safarov (Rogerio de Lima doping violation, Safarov removed from card)
  • Michel Prazeres vs. Islam Makhachev (Makhachev injury, Prazeres would face Mads Burnell)
  • Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Abu Azaitar (Azaitar injury, Bahadurzada would face Rob Wilkinson)
  • Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Nick Hein (Hein injury, Magomedsharipov would face Mike Santiago)
  • Germaine de Randamie vs. Marion Reneau (de Randamie injury, Reneau would face Talita Bernardo)

UFC 215: Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2
—–Date: September 9th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

UFC Fight Night 116: Rockhold vs. Branch
—–Date: September 16th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

UFC Fight Night 117: Saint Preux vs. Okami
—–Date: September 23rd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE


OCTOBER

UFC 216: Ferguson vs. Lee
—–Date: October 7th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX

UFC Fight Night 118: Cowboy vs. Till
—–Date: October 21st
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

UFC Fight Night 119: Brunson vs. Machida
—–Date: October 28th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

  • Christian Colombo vs. Carlos Felipe (Felipe doping violation, Colombo would face Marcelo Golm)
  • Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov (Teixeira injury, Cirkunov removed from card)
  • Boston Salmon vs. Augusto Mendes (Mendes injury, Salmon scheduled to face Raoni Barcelos)
  • Niko Price vs. Luan Chagas (Chagas injury, Price would face Vicente Luque)
  • Raoni Barcelos vs. Boston Salmon (Salmon injury, Barcelos removed from card)

NOVEMBER

UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre
—–Date: November 4th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

UFC Fight Night 120: Poirier vs. Pettis
—–Date: November 11th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

  • No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura
—–Date: November 19th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX

  • Mark Hunt vs. Marcin Tybura (Hunt medical issue, Tybura would face Fabricio Werdum)
  • Belal Muhammad vs. Jesse Taylor (Taylor doping violation, Muhammad would face Tim Means)
  • Joanne Calderwood vs. Bec Rawlings (Calderwood personal issue, Rawlings would face Jessica-Rose Clark)
  • Alexander Volkanovski vs. Jeremy Kennedy (Kennedy injury, Volkanovski scheduled to face Humberto Bandenay)
  • Alexander Volkanovski vs. Humberto Bandenay (Bandenay injury, Volkanovski scheduled to face Drex Zamboanga)
  • Alexander Volkanovski vs. Drex Zamboanga (Zamboanga visa issue, Volkanovski would face Shane Young)

UFC Fight Night 122: Bisping vs. Gastelum
—–Date: November 25th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE


DECEMBER

The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale: Montano vs. Modafferi
—–Date: December 1st
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2
—–Date: December 2nd
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

  • Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar (Edgar injury, Holloway would face Jose Aldo)
  • Al Iaquinta vs. Paul Felder (Iaquinta injury, Felder would face Charles Oliveira)

UFC Fight Night 123: Swanson vs. Ortega
—–Date: December 9th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

  • Eryk Anders vs. John Phillips (Phillips injury, Anders would face Markus Perez)
  • Bryan Caraway vs. Luke Sanders (Caraway injury, Sanders would face Andre Soukhamthath)
  • Aljamain Sterling vs. Rani Yahya (Yahya injury, Sterling would face Marlon Moraes)

UFC on Fox 26: Lawler vs. Dos Anjos
—–Date: December 16th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SEVEN

UFC 219: Cyborg vs. Holm
—–Date: December 30th
—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

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Wesley Riddle is a 29-year-old writer residing in Raleigh, North Carolina from Harrisonburg, Virginia. He has been part of the MMASucka team since the fourth quarter of 2016. Additionally, he serves as a writer with partner site Last Word on Motorsports.

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