When the UFC’s Seoul event, targeted for Feb. 4, was noticeably absent from the promotion’s recently announced 2023 schedule, fans began to suspect the worst. Yesterday, those fears were confirmed.
With local hero Chan Sung Jung announcing he’d be facing shoulder surgery and unable to fill the main event slot, rumors of the Fight Night event’s demise began to swirl. The UFC had remained largely silent on the status of the card, that is until a booking between Derrick Lewis and Sergei Spivac was made public on Thursday.
The pair would be headlining the February 4th event, however, the location was changed to the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Though it would seem logical to assume the change was made with The Korean Zombie’s inability to compete in mind, as yet no official statement has been released indicating the reasoning behind such a move.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Best Bets UFC Vegas 66: Cannonier vs. Strickland
The best of the rest
- Conor McGregor continues to take shots at ‘f****** idiot’ Artem Lobov after minor court win – MMAFighting.com
- Coach reflects on odd judges’ meeting with Doug Crosby: ‘He didn’t want to be there, he felt combative’ – MMAMania.com
- Deron Winn out of UFC Vegas 66 after fainting, falling down stairs at UFC Performance Institute – MMAFighting.com
- Valentina Shevchenko considering these two names for next title defense – BloodyElbow.com
- Eugene Bareman ‘quietly confident’ Israel Adesanya can win Alex Pereira rematch ‘with a few adjustments’ – MMAJunkie.com
The soapbox
Merab the Machine:
Chris Curtis makes some judging suggestions:
Nick Diaz and Gordon Ryan link up:
True Geordie goes in on Paddy:
Deron Winn has some complications:
Coach Erick Nicksick goes in on judge Doug Crosby:
The morning view
Seika Ozawa breaks down her Rizin 40 bout:
The Weasle breaks down UFC Vegas 66
Dan Hardy details Cannonier vs Strickland:
Catch up on the UFC Invitational – the final overtime round between Gordon Ryan and Nicky Rod is special:
Done Deals
Friday
- Derrick Lewis to face Serghei Spivac at UFC Vegas 68 on February 4th (per UFC)
- Marvin Vettori to face Roman Dolidze at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Brett Okamoto)
- Andre Fili to face Lucas Almeida at UFC Vegas 70 on February 25th (per Marcel Dorff)
- Mario Bautista to face Guido Cannetti at UFC Vegas 71 on March 11th (per MMA Island)
Thursday
- Cody Garbrandt to face Julio Arce at UFC 285 on March 4th (per Marcel Dorff)
Wednesday
- Mateus Mendonça to face Javid Basharat at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14th (per AG Fight)
- Joel Álvarez to face Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 284 on February 11th (per Eurosport News)
Tuesday:
- Erick Gonzalez to face Darrius Flowers at UFC Vegas 68 on February 25th (per MMA Island)
- Daniel Marcos to face Saimon Oliveira at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Giano Alva
Monday:
- Glover Teixeira to face Jamahal Hill at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Dana White)
- Viviane Araújo to face Amanda Ribas at UFC 285 on March 4th (per Dana De Ferro MMA)
UFC Roster Watch
Fighters removed this week:
- Benito Lopez
- Dalcha Lungiambula
Fighters Added this week:
- Bobby Green (suspension ended)
- Alessandro Costa
Credit to UFC Roster Watch
On this day in MMA…
On the 16th of December, 2000, UFC 29: Defense of the Belts was held at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
It became the final event the promotion would hold while under the ownership of parent company SEG, which was drawing nearer to bankruptcy with each passing day. Due to these concerns, the event also became the seventh straight UFC event to not see a release on home video in order to cut costs.
The card featured notable names such as a young Chuck Liddell, who climbed to 7-1 with his defeat of Jeff Monson, Matt Hughes in what was just his second defeat at the time, coming via a 20-second Armbar submission at the hands of Dennis Hallman, Pat Miletich’s fifth and final defense of his UFC lightweight title, and to cap off the affair Tito Ortiz would make the first defense of his UFC middleweight title by submitting Yuki Konodo with a neck crank in the first round.
The following January, the UFC would be purchased for $2 million by Zuffa LLC, spearheaded by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta and Dana White.
