The John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz bout will happen, after all.
After the two were supposed to meet last weekend at UFC Belem, the bout is now back on for UFC 222 on March 3 in Las Vegas, MMA Fighting confirmed Tuesday with the UFC. The Las Vegas Review-Journal was the first to report the news. UFC exec David Shaw said Saturday night that the promotion hoped it could make the bantamweight fight happen on that card.
Dodson and Munhoz would have fought at that Brazil event, but Munhoz missed weight by four pounds Friday and Dodson declined to take the fight. Munhoz blamed the miss on there being a lack of hot water in the hotel, which messed up his weight cut. He wasn’t the only competitor on the UFC Belem card to make that claim, either.
Dodson (19-9) has alternated wins in his last five fights and is coming off a very close split decision loss to Marlon Moraes at UFC Norfolk in November. Dodson, 33, is a former two-time flyweight title challenger and owns a victory at bantamweight over current champion T.J. Dillashaw.
Munhoz (15-2, 1 NC) is on a major roll right now, winning four straight. The California resident by way of Brazil beat Rob Font by first-round submission at UFC Sao Paulo in October. Munhoz, 31, sports a 5-2 (1 NC) record in the UFC.
UFC 222 is currently without a main event after Max Holloway withdrew from a featherweight title defense against Frankie Edgar due to injury. Edgar still might fight on the card and a contender bout against Brian Ortega is being discussed.
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani has reported that if no legitimate main event is found, UFC 222 could become an FS1 card rather than a pay-per-view event. Or, he reported, it could be cancelled altogether.
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