UFC postpones January PPV, Bellator makes Twitter jab
Additional reporting by Josh Nason
UFC announced Thursday that the January 21st PPV originally scheduled at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, is being moved to August 5th instead.
Their February 11th show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, will now become UFC 208 instead of 209.
Originally, there was going to be a head-to-head battle that night both on TV and regionally as Bellator is running a Spike TV show in Los Angeles at the Forum headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Tito Ortiz.
The January date was going to be difficult for UFC because there were no obvious main events for the show given almost every major star and/or champion either fought in November or is booked for one of UFC’s five December shows, or was injured or unavailable.
The promotion still has two January dates: an FS1 show headlined by BJ Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez in Phoenix and a Fox show in Denver that is still without a main event or main card.
The rescheduled Anaheim date will still be a PPV and likely the first one UFC runs after their annual major July show for International Fight Week.
Don't worry SoCal, we'll be here for you 😎#Bellator170: Ortiz vs Sonnen
01.21.17 | @theforum
TICKETS: https://t.co/UHW5UGvSXC pic.twitter.com/l4HNQsmxla— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) December 1, 2016
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.