Curly Howard
05-24-2003, 10:34 PM
Late last night word rolled in that Zuffa had just canceled UFC 44. Not really true. Zuffa hasn't actually cancelled UFC 44, but more accurately,
they have changed the date of the show.
Though they never officially announced the show, it was widely known
that both Tim Sylvia and Matt Hughes had been expecting to defend their titles and Rich Franklin was to fight Edwin Dewees on August 1st in Las Vegas, aka UFC 44.
Though we were unable to reach Sylvia or Hughes, three MMAWeekly sources did verify that Sylvia, Hughes and Franklin were all informed that the August 1st date was not going to happen.
Questioning the reasoning for the canceling of the August 1st date, all they could say is that they were told that "the August 1st date was never firm and that the UFC 44 fights would be pushed back to the September 26th date" that had originally been planned as the date for UFC 45.
Though we don't currently know exactly why the date change occurred, we do know that the UFC is now putting themselves in a bit of an awkward position in regards to many of the fighters that they have signed to multi-fight deals.
Most of the fighters, such as Tim Sylvia, that are signed to a 3-fight deal are guaranteed for those fights to take place in a certain amount of time, usually within one year on a 3-fight deal. By the time September 26th rolls around, it will be about 7 months since Sylvia last fought.
Ordinarily, the UFC would have just one more show after September 26th to finish out the year. Given this scenario, Sylvia would then have to turn around and fight again on the next consecutive show in order to fulfill his contract.
And Sylvia is just one of a handful of fighters that will be in the same predicament which will lead the UFC to have to have a certain number of fighters crammed onto their year end show.
After the questionable decision by the UFC to forego the momentum
generated by the UFC 40 mega-show last year and wait 3 months before running another show, the critics and skeptics will again be out in droves to again question the UFC's motives. Why would they build up
such a huge card full of name fighters on UFC 42, only to turn around
and not run another show for nearly 4 months?! Again losing out on the
possible momentum that such a superstar card should generate.
Speculation aside, the fact is that the decision has been made, UFC 44 will NOT take place on August 1st and fans will be facing a long barren summer when it comes to big-time MMA shows with only the Pride Grand Prix to look forward to in August
they have changed the date of the show.
Though they never officially announced the show, it was widely known
that both Tim Sylvia and Matt Hughes had been expecting to defend their titles and Rich Franklin was to fight Edwin Dewees on August 1st in Las Vegas, aka UFC 44.
Though we were unable to reach Sylvia or Hughes, three MMAWeekly sources did verify that Sylvia, Hughes and Franklin were all informed that the August 1st date was not going to happen.
Questioning the reasoning for the canceling of the August 1st date, all they could say is that they were told that "the August 1st date was never firm and that the UFC 44 fights would be pushed back to the September 26th date" that had originally been planned as the date for UFC 45.
Though we don't currently know exactly why the date change occurred, we do know that the UFC is now putting themselves in a bit of an awkward position in regards to many of the fighters that they have signed to multi-fight deals.
Most of the fighters, such as Tim Sylvia, that are signed to a 3-fight deal are guaranteed for those fights to take place in a certain amount of time, usually within one year on a 3-fight deal. By the time September 26th rolls around, it will be about 7 months since Sylvia last fought.
Ordinarily, the UFC would have just one more show after September 26th to finish out the year. Given this scenario, Sylvia would then have to turn around and fight again on the next consecutive show in order to fulfill his contract.
And Sylvia is just one of a handful of fighters that will be in the same predicament which will lead the UFC to have to have a certain number of fighters crammed onto their year end show.
After the questionable decision by the UFC to forego the momentum
generated by the UFC 40 mega-show last year and wait 3 months before running another show, the critics and skeptics will again be out in droves to again question the UFC's motives. Why would they build up
such a huge card full of name fighters on UFC 42, only to turn around
and not run another show for nearly 4 months?! Again losing out on the
possible momentum that such a superstar card should generate.
Speculation aside, the fact is that the decision has been made, UFC 44 will NOT take place on August 1st and fans will be facing a long barren summer when it comes to big-time MMA shows with only the Pride Grand Prix to look forward to in August