The full UFC 196 card now includes: MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m. ET) Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson Roy Nelson vs. Jared Rosholt Rafael Cavalcante vs. Ovince Saint Preux Joseph Benavidez vs. Zach Makovsky PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET) Josh Burkman vs. K.J. Noons Damian Grabowski vs. Derrick Lewis Mike Pyle vs. Sean Spencer Misha Cirkunov vs. Alex Nicholson PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6 p.m. ET) Mickey Gall vs. Mike Jackson Artem Lobov vs. Alex White Ray Borg vs. Justin Scoggins Noad Lahat vs. Diego Rivas
A day after Cain Velasquez pulls out of UFC 196, Fabricio Werdum follows suit By Kevin IoleJanuary 25, Cagewriter . View photo Cain Velasquez (L) pulled out of UFC 196 on Sunday with a back injury. Champion Fabricio Werdum (R) pulled out on Monday with injuries, leaving UFC president Dana White with a lot of work to do to salvage the Feb. 6 card. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images) It has to be a crazy day over at the Zuffa headquarters in Las Vegas. Cain Velasquez on Sunday was forced to pull out of his heavyweight title fight with Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC 196 because of a back injury. The UFC announced that Stipe Miocic would replace Velasquez in the Feb. 6 event. But while Miocic was doing interviews with reporters Monday, MMAFighting.com reported that Werdum himself was withdrawing from the fight. Werdum spoke to MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz and explained why he chose to pull out: I was already injured. I have a foot injury and haven't been able to throw kicks in training for two weeks. I would still fight Cain because I was injured the last time, but I also hurt my back last Friday. I went to the doctor, tried to continue training, but couldn't spar as I should spar. I decided not to fight because I'm not 100 percent. If Cain was the opponent, I would go on. It not's his fault. It's nobody's fault. Injuries happen. You can't avoid them. I have no option. I made this decision because I'm not feeling 100 percent. Yahoo Sports had just hung up the phone from speaking to Miocic about the title fight with Werdum when the news came down. Miocic had knocked out Andrei Arlovski in 54 seconds on Jan. 2 at UFC 195, making him the No. 1 contender. View photo . Stipe Miocic (R) punches Andrei Arlovski in their heavyweight fight at UFC 195 on Jan. 2. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Getty … UFC president Dana White had said at the press conference on Jan. 2 that Miocic would fight the Werdum-Velasquez winner. When Velasquez was injured, Miocic told Yahoo Sports that White called him Sunday and offered the bout. He said he quickly accepted despite the fact he would have little time to prepare. "I pretty much train all the time anyway, and this is what I wanted, so it wasn't really that hard of a call to make," Miocic had said just prior to learning of Werdum's decision. The fate of UFC 196 remains in the air. There is no obvious bout that could be made to replace the title fight as the main event. Miocic probably wouldn't want to fight so quickly if it wasn't a title bout, and there is no obvious match that would be considered a pay-per-view headliner. Veterans Ben Rothwell and Josh Barnett are fighting Saturday in Newark, N.J., on a Fox-televised card. Rothwell is ranked No. 7 and Barnett No. 8. Velasquez was No. 1 and Miocic was No. 2. Alistair Overeem is No. 3, and he stopped Junior dos Santos in December. Arlovski is fourth, but he was knocked out on Jan. 2, so he can't fight. Dos Santos is coming off that Dec. 19 loss to Overeem, and No. 6 Travis Browne defeated Matt Mitrione on Jan. 16. White did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He's been able to make many last-minute saves after injuries wrecked a card late, but this may be one of his most difficult challenges yet.
Rafael dos Anjos explains why it’s good that 'lunatic' Conor McGregor is in his head By Guilherme Cruz @guicruzzz on Jan 27, 2016, 9:00a 109 TWEET SHARE (2102) PIN NITEROI -- In his first interview after the UFC made Rafael dos Anjos vs. Conor McGregor official for March 5, the lightweight champion said "the most complicated part of all this will be control myself so I don’t put my hands on this lunatic before the fight." In the first UFC 197 press conference, "The Notorious" showed he’ll do anything to get inside the Brazilian’s head. From Jesus to "El Chapo" to dos Anjos’ kids and team, McGregor wouldn’t even let dos Anjos answer questions without interrupting, but the lightweight kingpin stayed cool. "He crosses the line all the time," dos Anjos told the media in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. "He answered questions the media asked me, talked about my kids, said I’m not a Brazilian. Man, all the time. He said I’m sloppy. He crosses the line all the time. "He’s here to confuse everyone, give the sport a bad image. He thinks it’s nice to dress up like a drug dealer. I don’t think that’s a nice way to promote a fight. That doesn’t add anything to the sport. Georges St-Pierre always sold well as a champion doing exactly the opposite." dos Anjos wouldn’t respond to McGregor’s attacks even when he talked about his kids, Gustavo and Rafael Filho, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t bothered by it. "That bothered me, but I knew he would bring those weapons. I was ready for that," he said. "Talk about my wife, my kids, Jesus, my team. What can I do? He’s a lunatic. I will answer him on March 5. (Fabricio) Werdum called me saying ‘my friend, go get him, throw something at him, a bottle’. But that’s not my style. I will answer him when the time comes. On March 5, I will be the one doing the talk." Many people believe McGregor was able to get inside the head of his previous opponents, including in his 13-second win over Jose Aldo in December. "The Notorious" is inside dos Anjos’ head already, but he’s not the first to do it. "Every opponent gets inside my head because I think about them for three of four months," said the Brazilian. "He’s in my head just like every other opponent before. I wake up thinking about him, I go to the gym thinking about him. That’s how he’s in my head. Nate Diaz pushed me at the weigh-in, but I fight ever better when my opponents make it personal. I will dominate him." "Aldo had to listen to this guy for a long time, and I will only listen for two months," he continued. "I won’t have to see this guy until fight week now. I will dominate him on March 5. I’ll put him back to his place. I think I have the experience. It’s my 20th fight in the UFC. I’m not saying the others weren’t focused, but I will be calm on fight night and use my strategy because I know the victory is mine. I know this guy won’t make history over me. I’m super confident I will beat him up." McGregor predicted and delivered in almost every UFC fight so far, and said he will "dust" dos Anjos inside one minute. "His predictions have worked so far, but he only met the good side of the UFC. Everything he planned has worked so far. I’ve seen both the good and bad sides of the UFC," dos Anjos said. "On March 5, I will show him the bad side of the sport. His crystal ball is blurry. He thinks he’s seeing something, but it’s going to be quite the opposite."
MAFighting.com - The Mixed Martial Arts News Website 6 hrs · Luke Rockhold thinks a rematch with Chris Weidman is next. Who would leave with UFC belt? Luke Rockhold talks future in UFC middleweight division: 'All signs point to Chris Weidman' UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold joined MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani Monday for "The MMA Hour." See what the champ said about his future… MMAFIGHTING.COM|BY HUNTER A. HOMISTEK
MMAFighting.com - The Mixed Martial Arts News Website 11 hrs · Fabricio Werdum has a message for all the haters of him dropping out ofUFC 196. Fabricio Werdum reacts to backlash after UFC 196 withdrawal UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum responds to backlash from fans after pulling out of UFC 196 with a back injury. MMAFIGHTING.COM|BY GUILHERME CRUZ
