UFC 191. Main card preview.

UFC 191 Headliners Demetrious Johnson and number one contender John Dodson

The UFC makes its return to our screens next Saturday the 5th of September with the 125lbs Flyweight Championship on the line. Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson (21-2-1) defends his belt for the seventh time in total and the second time against his opponent and number one ranked flyweight John ‘ The Magician’ Dodson (18-6-0).

Johnson last defended his belt at UFC 186 in Montreal, Canada back in April this year. Unfortunately for Mighty Mouse Johnson, UFC 186 was an incredibly forgettable card. The original main event between Renan Barao and TJ Dillashaw had to be scraped when the Bantamweight Champion Dillashaw broke a rib, Canadian superstar Rory McDonalds fight against Hector Lombard was scrapped when Lombard was popped for PED use and the card was to feature the return to the UFC of Quentin ‘ Rampage’ Jackson after a spell at Bellator MMA. Due to a legal dispute, Jackson was initially unable to compete at UFC 186 but a last minute overturning meant Rampage did make the walk to the Octagon but by that stage the damage was done and PPV views and attendance numbers were record lows.

As I wrote on this blog way back in March, Demetrious Johnson has not been a big pull for the UFC when it comes to selling pay per views. However as a champion, the UFC do have to give him a main or co main event slot on whatever card he is on. At both of his last two originally scheduled fights, UFC 177 and 186, Mighty Mouse was originally the co main event but due to injuries, he was bumped to the main event at UFC 178 and UFC 186 respectively.

Next week’s event is different as Mighty Mouse is now headlining the card from the get go. To support their Flyweight Champion with his PPV numbers, the UFC have turned UFC 191 into a stacked event. Leading up to the event I will be giving a preview of several high profile fights on the card. This will include Paul Felder vs Ross Pearson, Alex Chambers vs Paige Van Zant, Anthony Johnson vs Jimi Manuwa, Andrei Arlovski vs Frank Mir and the main event Demetrious Johnson vs John Dodson. As usual I will also be giving predictions on all these fights.

The last time the pair first met below.

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TJ Dillashaw out of UFC 186.

It has been revealed today that current UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw will miss his upcoming bout with Renan Barao at UFC 186

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The news was broken today by UFC President Dana White who was speaking on Big Boy Radio in Los Angeles. According to White, Dillashaw has suffered a broken rib meaning he will miss the long awaited rematch with number one contender and former bantamweight champion Renan Barao. The two were due to face off for their rematch back at UFC 177 last August but their bout was cancelled the day before after Barao passed out and fell whilst cutting weight. Dillashaw went on to TKO Joe Soto who stepped up on 24 hours notice.

 

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This will come as a massive kick in the teeth for the UFC.The first fight between Dillashaw and Barao was up there as one of the best fights of 2014, with Dillashaw coming in as a massive underdog against the champ Barao. Dillashaw however went on to dominate Barao and scored a TKO win in the 5th round. The question on a lot of peoples lips is could Dillashaw do it again against who many would have as their pound for pound number one fighter in the world. Because of this a lot of people (myself included) really want to see how this fight will play out again.

Secondly, 2014 was a washout year for the UFC when it came to cancelled main events. UFC 176 in August was cancelled altogether after Jose Aldo injured himself and the UFC were unable to find a replacement for the main card. The main event of UFC 177 was scrapped after Barao injured himself trying to make weight, a few weeks later at UFC 178, the main event of Jones vs Cormier was also scrapped.The UFC also made their first stop in Mexico city were Heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez was due to defend his belt against Fabricio Werdum. This main event was cancelled due to Velasquez suffering another injury. The fans were becoming very vocal about their dissatisfaction and the UFC knew it.

2015 managed to get off to a very good start until the main event at UFC 185, Weidman vs Belfort for the middleweight belt was cancelled due to Weidman sustaining a rib injury. In short 2014 was a disastrous year for the UFC when it came to main events being cancelled. It is something they won’t want repeated going forward in 2015.

Lastly, the main event that will replace Dillashaw vs Barao 2 at UFC 186 will be for the UFC Flyweight Championship between current champion Demetrious Johnson and No.8 ranked Flyweight Kyoji Horiguch. This is a kick in the teeth for the UFC because despite his incredible skills as a mixed martial artist, Johnson has not been a great draw for the UFC as flyweight champion. His PPV buys are among the lowest on the UFC Roster and the flyweight division has been lacking any real competition for some time so there isn’t any real interest from the fans at the moment. He managed to headline UFC 178 as a result of Jones Vs Cormier being scrapped. He was originally supposed to be the co main event for UFC 177 but they moved him to the main event at UFC 178 so both cards would have championship fights. The UFC don’t want him headlining his own shows if they can help it. His fight at UFC 174 had one of the lowest PPV buys on record with less than 100,000 buys.

Right now there is no date scheduled for a rematch between Dillashaw and Barao. UFC 191 on September 5th as of right now has no fights scheduled so that could be a runner.