Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg set for UFC 216
The flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg has been rebooked for UFC 216. The two were originally set to meet in the main event of UFC 215, but Borg was forced to pull out of the fight due to an illness. UFC 216 will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 7. Johnson also made news when his management team announced that the flyweight champion has restructured his deal with the UFC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Grocke’s Viewpoint: Congrats to DJ for hopefully getting more money out of the UFC. Borg has a history of having weight cutting issues, hopefully he can get down to 125 safely with another month to do so. The addition of this fight to the UFC 216 card makes an already strong card even stronger.
Thiago Alves out of UFC Fight Night 116
Alves has pulled out of his UFC Fight Night 116 co-main event bout against Mike Perry for undisclosed reasons. Alves is currently in Florida with is family dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This is the second unsuccessful attempt at getting these two in the cage together. The fight was originally booked for UFC 215 in August, but the UFC decided to move the PPV to September due to the Mayweather-McGregor fight.
Grocke’s Viewpoint: Losing this fight really hurts the UFC Fight Night: Pittsburgh card. It was a fight I was looking forward to, hopefully we see it down the road.
Jesse Taylor flagged for an Anti-Doping Policy violation
Taylor was flagged for an Anti-Doping policy violation stemming from an out of competition sample taken on August 22. Taylor’s upcoming fight against Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 121 has been canceled and a replacement for Taylor is underway.
Grocke’s Viewpoint: So much for one of the few feel good stories of the year. Jesse Taylor winning TUF 25 was a true redemption story. Unfortunately, as with Jon Jones this tarnishes everything he accomplished.
Paul Felder to make UFC commentator debut
Felder will make his UFC commentator debut on the FS 1 portion of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 116. Felder joins Jon Anik and Dominick Cruz as part of a three-man booth for the event in Pittsburgh. Felder previously called fights on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series on UFC Fight Pass.
Grocke’s Viewpoint: I like the decision to add Felder to the broadcast. While covering the first season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, I really enjoyed his color commentary. Considering Felder doesn’t have a fight lined up it makes perfect sense for him to get his feet wet on a bigger stage.
Wednesday Notebook
- Shayna Baszler loses in finals of WWE’s Mae Young Classic
- Michael Bisping says Jon Jones should face lifetime ban
- Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov moved to UFC on FOX 26
- Mickey Gall vs. Randy Brown is booked for UFC 217
NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS NEWS: Daniel Cormier reinstated as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
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