The loss of one UFC pay-per-view will be ESPN’s gain.
Following the announcement that the upcoming UFC 233 show in Anaheim, Calif., has been canceled, multiple bouts scheduled for that Jan. 26 event have received new dates according to anofficial release Thursday.
Paul Felder (15-4) will see a lightweight fight opposite James Vick (13-2) actually rescheduled for a second time in the wake of the UFC 233 cancellation. The two were booked to face off at UFC Boisein July, only for Vick to bow out with an injury. They were then supposed to fight in January, but will now be part of the UFC’s ESPN television premier on Feb. 17 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. ESPN was first to report the move.
ESPN had also reported that flyweight contenders Joseph Benavidez (26-5) and Deiveson Figueiredo (15-0) were in talks to have their bout bumped up to the the UFC’s debut on the ESPN+ streaming service, which takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Jan. 19., but sources told MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz that the date would be too early for the Brazilian.
Instead, per Thursday’s release, Benavidez is being brought in as an alternate for the Jan. 19 flyweight championship main event between Henry Cejudo and bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. That decision was first reported by Yahoo Sports.
Also first reported by ESPN, strawweights Cynthia Calvillo (7-1) and Cortney Casey (8-6) have been moved to the Feb. 17 show, along with a bantamweight bout between Manny Bermudez (13-0) and Benito Lopez (9-0), and a strawweight bout between Aleksandra Albu (3-0) and Emily Whitmire (3-2)
A women’s bantamweight fight between Yana Kunitskaya (11-4, 1 NC) and Marion Reneau (9-4-1) will now take place at an ESPN+ show on March 9 with a location to be determined, and MMA Fighting confirmed with sources that a middleweight bout between Anthony Hernandez (7-0) andMarkus Perez (10-2) finds itself relocated to an ESPN+ show on Feb. 2 at the Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil.
MMAjunkie was first to report that pair of bout changes.
