The UFC 256 card just can’t catch a break. The card was originally supposed to feature a welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns as well as a women’s featherweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson.
However, both of those title fights were called off due to injuries. Now, just a few weeks before the event, the UFC 256 card has lost another title fight. Per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the Petr Yan – Aljamain Sterling fight has been called off.
The news was first reported by MMA Island. Petr Yan (15-1) had to pull out of the fight for undisclosed reasons and the UFC is said to be working on a new date for that title fight. Aljamain Sterling (19-3) will have to wait even longer for his UFC title shot.
This is a crushing blow for the UFC 256 card. The past couple of days has seen the card get a major boost with the additions of Tony Ferguson – Charles Oliveira and the addition of a UFC flyweight title fight. However, this is very bad news for a card that needed two title fights.
UFC 256’s bad luck
In all my years of watching the sport, I never remember a UFC card losing three title fights. However, the December PPV has been dealt three crushing blows which has damaged the card.
Yet, the UFC 256 still has a couple of really good fights now that the flyweight title is on the card and Ferguson – Oliveira is on the card. The fight night that the promotion is putting on, December 19th, is absolutely stacked with amazing fights.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see the UFC move up one of those contests to the PPV card. That card could really use another big matchup to get the PPV numbers as much as possible. However, there’s no word on that yet. This situation is still developing.