Fans were not happy to be forced to wait over an hour from the planned start time for UFC 313’s fight card to kick-off.
Curtis Blaydes was among the names forced out of tonight’s event at the last minute with an illness that is reportedly going around the UFC Performance Institute. His bout with Rizvan Kuniev was set for the prelim card, as was a featherweight fight between Chris Gutierrez and John Castaneda.
Given that fights are 15 minutes long on prelims and also feature ring walks, breaks between rounds and post-fight interviews and decision, they are assigned a 30-minute timeslot on the television broadcast. This meant that the show inside the arena had to be pushed back by at least an hour.
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UFC 313 delayed after two fights cancelled
UFC 313 being spliced down to just ten fights ravaged the early part of the prelims. The show, which was due to start at 3.30pm local time in Las Vegas started half an hour late, and there was another 35 minutes of build-up before the first fight got underway.
Ultimately, Ozzy Diaz and Djorden Santos got the fights underway, around an hour and five minutes after the action was slated to kick off. Fans were not pleased with the delay, feeling that it is indicative of a general fall off in quality.
“It feels like just a year ago the UFC was on fire, now it seems like its not making too much noise like before,” one bewildered fan wrote. Others all took to X’s Grok AI to ask for local start times, without getting an official updated graphic from the UFC.
Another added: “Need to start paying backup fighters up and down these cards. It’s getting outta hand.” Others took pity on British fans, who got started around 12:40am UK time. One wrote: “Damn the uk times ouch.”
Joe Rogan reveals why UFC 313 was pushed back
It appears that the reason for the fights being cancelled was an illness that has been going around the UFC Performance Institute. Joe Rogan let fans know on the broadcast that the fights were being delayed due to the spread.
“It’s a bummer,” Rogan told Jon Anik during the early prelims opening segment. “Apparently, there’s something going around the UFC PI.
“We’ve been hearing about a lot of guys getting sick. It’s very unfortunate, but we still have 10 great fights.”
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