The UFC has canceled UFC Fight Night 97, which had been scheduled for October 15, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Philippines. The move comes after UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn suffered a rib injury and withdrew from a fight with Ricardo Lamas. The event was to have streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
The fighters will be awarded their show money, and the fighters will be rebooked. It is not known whether the UFN 97 matchups will remain:
Main Card
Ricardo Lamas vs. BJ Penn
Derrick Lewis vs. Marcin Tybura
Jenel Lausa vs. Yao Zhikui
Mizuto Hirota vs. Cole Miller
Prelim Card
Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson
Jon Tuck vs. Alex Volkanovski
Ryan Janes vs. Dongi Yang
Seo Hee Ham vs. Danielle Taylor
James Moontasri vs. Alex Morono
Ali Bagautinov vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
This is only the third cancellation in league history.
The first was in September 2012 in Las Vegas, when UFC 151 was scrapped after Dan Henderson pulled out of a title fight vs. then light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who declined to accept a fight vs. Chael Sonnen. The second was in August 2014 in Los Angeles, when UFC 176 was scrapped when then-featherweight champ Jose Aldo pulled out of a fight with Chad Mendes a month prior the fight.
This was to have been the second UFC event in the Philippines. The first was UFC Fight Night 66 in May 2015. The league said it plans to reschedule another event in Manila in future.
Fans who have purchased tickets to the event are directed to seek refunds at the point of purchase.
On Saturday the UFC will have run of events for eight straight weekends in a row. The next fight after 204 will be The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale: dos Anjos vs. Ferguson on November 5, 2016 at Arena Ciudad de México in Mexico City, Mexico.
