UFC reschedules Anaheim PPV for August; UFC 208 moved to Brooklyn

The UFC has already made some changes to its 2017 schedule. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reported on Thursday that the January 21st UFC 208 pay-per-view in Anaheim, California will no longer take place on that date. UFC officials later confirmed the news. Instead, the UFC has rescheduled the Honda Center for August 5th. February 11th’s UFC 209 card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York is now UFC 208.

Prior to today’s announcement, UFC 208 only had two fights booked: Wilson Reis vs. Ulka Sasaki and Glover Teixeira vs. Jimi Manuwa. It is unknown whether or not those matchups will be moved to the Brooklyn show.

According to the LA Times article, “a string of unavailable title fighters” left the UFC in a position where they had to move dates. Of course, there was a tripleheader of title fights at UFC 205, in addition to the men’s and women’s bantamweight belts at stake at UFC 207. UFC 206 would’ve had Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson as the main event, but now it’s an interim featherweight title bout between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis. Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is fighting Tim Elliott in the main event of this Saturday’s The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale. That leaves you with only two champions most likely to be available for a January date — heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and middleweight champion Michael Bisping — but Miocic is targeting a March return, and a knee injury has pushed any Bisping return to March.

On a different note, with the UFC not holding an event on January 21st, that means that Bellator 170: Ortiz vs. Sonnen will have the night all to itself. That card takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, and they’re well aware that there will no longer be any competition from the UFC that night.