Alistair Overeem and Curtis Blaydes react to UFC 225 bout being demoted to prelims

Bloodyelbow.com

During the UFC Chile broadcast, it was announced that the UFC 225 bout order has been changed and the featherweight bout between Holly Holm and Megan Anderson will now be on the main card. This means the previously announced bout between Alistair Overeem and Curtis Blaydes have been dropped from PPV to the FS1 prelims.

Both heavyweights took to social media about the change, with Overeem seemingly going from shocked to calm in just a few minutes.

Blaydes initially joked about the change on twitter, before saying on Instagram that it also doesn’t mean much to him:

“I’ve got no idea why the change was made and tbh idc it literally changes nothing, still getting paid and still have a job to do,” Blaydes wrote on Instagram. “Only perk is now I get to clock out of work closer to 8 as opposed to like 10ish”

From the fighters’ perspective, if they get paid the same regardless, it may actually be a good thing for them to “headline” the preliminary card. They can get a million or so viewers on FS1, when the pay-per-view, although more prestigious in most people’s eyes, wouldn’t come close to the same amount of eyeballs. If the fight ends early as expected, it also has a decent chance it make its way to the PPV broadcast and gets even more exposure.

From an entertainment standpoint though, while Holm vs Anderson has a more immediate impact in the barren featherweight division, there’s a chance the style match up leads to a low output and less action packed contest.

Either way, the card looks fun and it doesn’t seem to be that big of a change. If things go well, we could very well see all six of those bouts on the pay-per-view broadcast anyway.