Dana White confirmed late on Sunday night that a major headline change to the UFC 196 card needed to be made due to an injury to Cain Velasquez.
The former heavyweight champion was headlining the card in a rematch with current champ Fabricio Werdum, but has been forced to pull out and now #2 ranked Stipe Miocic will step in and contend for the title.
Velasquez injured his back in training for the fight, and the news was confirmed via Dana White's Instagram account:
Stipe Miocic is coming off the back of an emphatic first round knockout of Andrei Arlovski, and was surely in line to fight the winner of Velasquez Vs Werdum, but now he will get his shot sooner than expected.
Fabricio Werdum had been criticising Conor McGregor during the week for his comments on Kings MMA teammate Rafael Dos Anjos, which surprised many so close to such a big fight, but now he will have to adjust to a new opponent as he looks to defend his belt in Las Vegas.
While it's never nice to see a headline dropout (as UFC Dublin attendees will know all too well), at least the replacement fight should be extremely entertaining.
We're still looking forward to UFC 196 on February 6th.
