UFC is taking its Feb. 6 event "off of pay-per-view" and moving it to FS1 after the scheduled heavyweight title fight had to be postponed, according to Kevin Iole of YAHOO SPORTS. The show will stay at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas and will be headlined by a Johny Hendricks-Stephen Thompson welterweight fight. The card was originally scheduled to include a Fabricio Werdum-Cain Velasquez title bout, but Velasquez on Sunday "was forced to withdraw from the event, citing a back injury." UFC replaced Velasquez with Stipe Miocic, though Werdum on Monday announced he "was pulling out." He said that he had "several injuries, but would have been willing to fight through them to compete against Velasquez." Iole noted when Werdum "wasn't willing to do the same against Miocic," the heavyweight fight "was scrapped entirely" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/26). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Joe Lucia noted UFC's annual PPV on Super Bowl weekend has "typically been a star-studded affair that pops a solid buyrate." Without the heavyweight bout, the "rest of the card is so weak that it would have been shocking if anyone would have actually bought the show" on PPV (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 1/26).
