The Sport Addiction

The UFC has been in a rough spot the last year as they have struggled to get fans and build fighters up.

It has a lot to do with the fights they are putting on and the people that they are trying to build up.

Not all of it is on the shoulders of the UFC though as the promotion has consistently had to deal with unexpected issues that ruin everything they are working towards.

Just this week UFC 222 was blown up when Max Holloway had to pull out of a fight against Frankie Edgar to injury.

It sent them scrambling and trying to find a replacement to keep it as a pay-per-view card or face the possibility of moving it to FS1 or just cancel it altogether.

They eventually found that matchup as Cris Cyborg will defend her belt once again and will save the card.

That last-minute save was good work on the part of the UFC but it all came from something that they couldn’t control.

It is surely one of the most frustrating things that the UFC has to deal with as they can build up fighters and cards but if those fighters and cards are gone they lost all of that momentum.

Although the Cyborg fight is still a good one it is likely not as big as a fight between a legend and a young champion.

That will not be the same despite the fact that it will still be good it is simply not the same and the UFC will have to deal with that.

This is not a new problem for the UFC but it seems to be happening more and more to big names on big cards.

It even happened to the UFC 221 card when the UFC decided to travel to Australia to highlight the first Australian UFC champion, Robert Whittaker.

He was ready to defend his newly minted middleweight belt against Luke Rockhold in front of his home crowd.

Then he had to drop out and the entire reason for the trip to Australia fell apart, but once again they were able to salvage the card when Yoel Romero stepped into the title fight.

It wasn’t going to be the main title as Whittaker still had it and would defend it against the winner at UFC 221.

Instead, Rockhold would take on Romero for the interim title and put something on the line for the main event.

Once again though the UFC had to deal with an issue that was entirely out of their control that made the fight less of a showcase.

A day before the fight began, Romero failed to make weight weighing in 2,5 lbs over the 185 lb limit for middleweight.

It changed everything in the main event but it was too late to really save anything for the card and for the UFC.

Instead, it was up to Rockhold to either continue on with the fight despite the overweight opponent or to cancel the fight and lose the main event altogether.

Like most fighters, he decided to go ahead with the fight and ensure that the work he put in would not go to waste because of his opponent.

The missed weight would change things though as Romero will not get his entire fight purse, that money will go to Rockhold.

More importantly, though Romero would not be allowed to win the interim middleweight title due to his missed weight.

It put something on the line but not entirely as Rockhold could win the fight and take home a belt to earn his title unification belt against Whittaker.

If Romero were to win he would simply get a win and no belt while a title fight with Whittaker wouldn’t be likely as missing weight is a cardinal sin in combat sports.

The fight continued on and the strange situations that have been in place for this card continued to unfold.

It started out with both fighters not really taking a lot on either side but Romero slowly started to gain an advantage.

Instead of using his wrestling pedigree to beat Rockhold, he remained standing and began to find his groove on the feet.

That continued until the third round when Romero landed a big left-hand right to the temple of Rockhold.

It sent him to the ground where Romero followed up with a solid right hand that ended the fight.

With Rockhold’s loss, nothing really happened on the night as there was no belt to be won by Romero.

His missed weight puts his future in doubt as he has already lost to Whittaker and after missing weight might not get an immediate shot.

Once again something out of the control of the UFC has affected their fights and the future of their fights leaving the roller coaster of the UFC continuing on.