The UFC has made a considerable change to its January lineup, and UFC 233 no longer will take place Jan. 26.
The promotion has scratched plans for the pay-per-view event, which was scheduled to take place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., due to a series of circumstances that created difficulty building a suitable event.
MMAjunkie today verified the news with a UFC official following an initial report from ESPN.com.
The promotion issued a statement to MMAjunkie, which is expected to be released today:
“UFC today announced that the UFC 233 Pay-Per-View event scheduled for January 26 is postponed.
All bouts previously slated for UFC 233 are being rescheduled for upcoming cards. The February 10th Pay-Per-View event at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Australia will remain titled UFC 234: WHITTAKER VS GASTELUM. Tickets for UFC 234 sold out within minutes.
UFC’s 2019 event calendar will still feature 12 Pay-Per-View events. Additional details about the postponed Pay-Per-View will be announced at a later date.”
In the wake of the change, the UFC already has started to inform fighters and managers of plans to reschedule planned fights for UFC 233. A flyweight title rematch between Henry Cejudo and T.J. Dillashaw had already been taken off UFC 233 and moved to UFC on ESPN+ 1, which takes place Jan. 19 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
It is not yet known exactly how the schedule will be shuffled.
UFC 233 was set to go head-to-head with Bellator 214, which takes place just miles away from the Honda Center at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Minutes after the news broke, Bellator President Scott Coker posted a reaction on social media (via Twitter):
View: https://twitter.com/ScottCoker/status/1072928308893892608
Full story here:
UFC scratches UFC 233 card on Jan. 26 as part of pay-per-view schedule change
