UFC 195 – 12 fights, UFC 194 – 12 fights, UFC 193 – 13 fights, UFC 192 – 12 fights, UFC 191 – 11 fights.
You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out that the average number of fights on UFC pay-per-views over the past six months is 12.
And that’s led us to believe that there may not be any more fights added to next month’s UFC 196 which saw its 12th bout added on Friday night.
The card, headlined by a lightweight title fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Conor McGregor, has received a rescheduled welterweight bout.
Brandon Thatch vs. Siyar Bahadurzada was initially slated for next week’s UFC Fight Night 83 but that bout has had to be pushed back 13 days due to medication clearance issues for Thatch.
A UFC statement reads: “Thatch, who is using a medication permitted under the UFC/USADA, WADA and Nevada State Athletic Commission anti-doping rules, was unable to obtain the necessary clearance from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. The Colorado fighter and his team have been in communication with the UFC and USADA throughout this process, and the required paperwork for licensing in Nevada has been filed.”
It’s not definite that this will be the final UFC 196 card because anything can happen and there can be last minute opponent changes, fighters dropping out, etc.
But with just 20 days to go until fight night and with 12 fights already scheduled, we wouldn’t be surprised if Joe Silva and Sean Shelby consider their jobs to be done for March 5.
