It's still taking place in Las Vegas on March 5th but now you've got to get your head around talking about UFC 196 instead of UFC 197. The disaster that was UFC 196 (the original) was supposed to take place on February 6th with the heavy weight title showdown between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez.
It wasn't exactly a stacked card to begin with but Velalsquez dropped out, then Werdum dropped out and all of a sudden the UFC had potentially the worst ever PPV event on their hands. Eventually they did the only logical thing and switched it to a free-to-air show on FOX with Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson headlining a show that has now been officially called UFC FIGHT NIGHT: HENDRICKS vs. THOMPSON.
#UFC196 now becomes #UFCVegas with Hendricks vs. Thompson as the main event ➡️ https://t.co/sulDZ7oqA0 pic.twitter.com/bpnYIy31po
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) January 28, 2016
That may seem like splitting hairs but it does mean a significant change in the UFC calendar ahead of UFC 200 in July. To make up the numbers as it were, McGregor vs Dos Anjos has now been named UFC 196 with an additional PPV event likely to be added in May to ensure that UFC 200 is still taking place in its original July slot.
The new UFC 197 is now slotted in for April 23rd with dates for UFC 198 and UFC 199 yet to be announced. All that means that essentially, nothing really changes but we'll just have to get used to hyping up UFC 196 instead of UFC 197 now.
