With this calendar year of 2018 creeping to a close, I thought it would be appropriate reflecting back one year prior to the days of 2017. That year had brought us many high’s, such as the thrilling three-belt switch from UFC 217 and the seven first-round stoppages at UFC Fight Night 114. We also cannot forget about the thrilling welterweight fight between Yancy Medeiros and Alex Oliveira, or the lightweight bout on the same card between Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje. Aside from these positives, there were many let-downs in 2017. The most common, recurring theme that occurs every year frustrating us all: fight cancellations (and changes). News will drop quite often about a fighter sustaining an injury in practice or a USADA drug test gone wrong, resulting in that fighter being removed from an event entirely. After hours of research and statistical gathering, MMASucka presents to you every UFC fight change and cancellation of 2017.

All of the fights below underneath the “Overall Statistics” have a source included indicating that the fight change and/or cancellation did occur. The assistance in confirmation comes with these sources and Tapology. The following list DOES NOT include:

—–-Fights discussed/linked to an event but never made official

—–-Fights removed due to the cancellation of an entire fight card

Overall Statistics:

In total, 135 officially scheduled UFC fights were changed or cancelled in 2017 across 39 different events. This number is 16 less than the year prior (2016).

Below lists the total number of fight changes and cancellations from each category, ranked from most to least.

—–1. Injury = 80

—–2. USADA doping violation = 12

—–3. Personal issue = 10

—–4. Medical issue or not medically cleared = 10

—–5. Illness = 7

—–6. Fight rescheduling for a different event = 4

—–7. Fighter rescheduled to fight someone else = 3

—–8. Visa issue = 3

—–9. Staph infection = 2

—–10. Travel issue = 1

—–11. Unfulfilled USADA testing pool requirements = 1

—–12. Fighter missing weight = 1

—–13. Unknown reasoning = 1

The 39 UFC events were divided by pay-per-view, FOX, Fight Night, and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) showings. Below indicates the number of fight changes and cancellations that resulted from each of the four different types of events:

—–21 Fight Night events = 71 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (52.6%)

—–12 PPV events = 46 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (34.1%)

—–4 FOX events = 12 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (8.9%)

—–2 TUF events = 6 of 135 fight changes/cancellations (4.4%)

The following 12 fighters had a fight changed/cancelled due to a USADA doping violation.

—–George Sullivan Ben Rothwell

—–Kelvin Gastelum Amanda Ribas

—–Marcos Rogerio de Lima Junior dos Santos

—–Carlos Felipe Ion Cutelaba

—–Jesse Taylor Anderson Silva

—–James Mulheron Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Out of the 80 injuries that resulted in a fight change or cancellation in 2017: Bryan Caraway, Christian Colombo, Damian Grabowski, John Phillips, and Sheldon Westcott were the five fighters to pull out of a fight more than once due to an injury, each pulling out twice.

Three fights listed below were cancelled in 2017 due to both fighters getting injured.

—–Hector Lombard vs. Brad Tavares

—–Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo

—–Sage Northcutt vs. John Makdessi

Neil Seery, Todd Duffee, Henry Briones, Dmitry Poberezhets, Magnus Cedenblad, Nadia Kassem, Jonathan Meunier, Megan Anderson, Dmitry Sosnovskiy, and Joanne Calderwood were the ten total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a personal issue.

Tom Breese, Thibault Gouti, Mizuto Hirota, Ian Entwistle, Nik Lentz, Mark Hunt, John Lineker, Luis Henrique, Justin Willis and Sijara Eubanks were the ten total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to either medical issues or not being medically cleared.

Ian McCall, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jared Gordon, Aspen Ladd, Amanda Nunes, Ray Borg, and Felipe Arantes were the seven total fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to illness.

Four total fights in 2017 were rescheduled to occur at a different event:

—–Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne

—–Dmitry Smolyakov vs. Adam Wieczorek

—–Adam Wieczorek vs. Anthony Hamilton

—–Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Sabah Homasi

Walt Harris, Roxanne Modafferi, and Jose Aldo were the only three fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to being rescheduled to fight someone else.

Drex Zamboanga, Priscila Cachoeira, and Emil Meek were the only three fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a visa issue.

Donald Cerrone and Patrick Cummins were the only two fighters to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a staph infection.

Thiago Alves was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to a travel issue. This occured as a result from Hurricane Irma.

Andrea Lee was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to unfulfilled USADA testing pool requirements.

Pietro Menga was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to missing weight. Surprisingly, he missed weight due to not appearing at the weigh-ins at all.

Alex Nicholson was the only fighter to have a fight changed/cancelled due to an unknown, undisclosed reason.

Alexander Volkanovski experienced the most change to a fight before finding an opponent. In total, three scheduled fights were cancelled at UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura for Volkanovski; two fighters due to injury (Kennedy and Banedenay) and one fighter due to a visa issue (Zamboanga).

Two UFC cards tied for the most fight changes or cancellations of 2017. Each suffered a total of seven fight changes/cancellations.

—–UFC 208 (Holm vs. De Randamie)

—–UFC on Fox 26 (Lawler vs. Dos Anjos)

Four UFC cards in 2017 saw NO fight changes and/or cancellations.

—–UFC 210 (Cormier vs. Johnson 2)

—–UFC on Fox 24 (Johnson vs. Reis)

—–UFC Fight Night 108 (Swanson vs. Lobov)

—–UFC Fight Night 120 (Poirier vs. Pettis)

Fight changes/cancellations from both male and female weight classes, ranked in order from most to least. To note: these orders are partially affected in some way due to how many fighters were signed to the UFC’s roster in each weight class, along with how many fights were scheduled in that particular weight class.

MEN’S

—–1. Heavyweight (265 pounds): 23

—–2. Welterweight (170 pounds): 18

—–3. Lightweight (155 pounds): 17

—–4. Light Heavyweight (205 pounds): 15

—–5. Featherweight (145 pounds): 14

—–6. Bantamweight (135 pounds): 13

—–7. Middleweight (185 pounds): 11

—–8. Flyweight (125 pounds): 9

WOMEN’S

—–1T. Bantamweight (135 pounds): 6

—–1T. Flyweight (125 pounds): 6

—–3. Strawweight (115 pounds): 2

—–4. Featherweight (145 pounds): 1

A total of six fights resulted from two fighters who had a fight scheduled with someone else (either on the same card OR separate cards), but as a result from various factors, ended up fighting each other:

—–1. James Vick vs. Abel Trujillo. Vick was to fight Johnny Case, while Trujillo was to fight Evan Dunham. An injury to both Case and Dunham formed the pairing between Vick and Trujillo.

—–2. Walt Harris vs. Fabricio Werdum. Harris was to fight Mark Godbeer, while Werdum was to fight Derrick Lewis. An injury to Lewis formed the pairing between Harris and Werdum, seeing Godbeer removed from the card completely.

—–3. Nicco Montano vs. Roxanne Modafferi. Montano was to fight Sijara Eubanks, while Modafferi was to fight Barb Honchak. A medical issue for Eubanks formed the pairing between Montano and Modafferi, seeing Honchak shifted to a different fight herself (look one below).

—–4. Lauren Murphy vs. Barb Honchak. Murphy was to fight Priscila Cachoeira, while Honchak was to fight Roxanne Modafferi. A visa issue for Cachoeira formed the pairing between Murphy and Honchak, seeing Modafferi shifted to the title fight with Montano (look one above).

—–5. Max Holloway vs. Jose Aldo. Holloway was to fight Frankie Edgar, while Aldo was to fight Ricardo Lamas. An injury to Edgar formed the pairing between Holloway and Aldo, seeing Lamas fight another opponent.

—–6. Nordine Taleb vs. Danny Roberts. Taleb was to fight Sultan Aliev, while Roberts was to fight Sheldon Westcott. An injury to both Aliev and Westcott formed the pairing between Taleb and Roberts.

A total of 67 fights received a replacement opponent *EXCLUDING* the six bouts mentioned above:

—–Replacement LOSS = 38 of 67 fights (56.7%)

—–Replacement WIN = 26 of 67 fights (38.8%)

—–Replacement OVERTURNED = 2 of 67 fights (3.0%)

—–Replacement DRAW = 1 of 67 fights (1.5%)

Niko Price and Michal Oleksiejczuk were the only replacement opponents to have their result overturned.

Bobby Green was the only replacement opponent to have his result end in a draw.

JANUARY

UFC Fight Night 103: Rodriguez vs. Penn

—–Date: January 15th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Bryan Caraway vs. Jimmie Rivera (Caraway injury, Rivera removed from card)

Viktor Pesta vs. Damian Grabowski (Grabowski injury, Pesta would face Alexey Oliynyk)

Erik Koch vs. Tony Martin (Koch injury, Martin would face Alex White)

Devin Powell vs. Jordan Rinaldi (Rinaldi injury, Powell would face Drakkar Klose)

Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis (Formiga injury, Pettis would face John Moraga)

UFC on Fox 23: Shevchenko vs. Pena

—–Date: January 28th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE



Hector Lombard vs. Brad Tavares (Lombard and Tavares injury, both removed from card)

Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. John Phillips (Phillips injury, Rogerio de Lima would face Jeremy Kimball)

Li Jingliang vs. Yancy Medeiros (Medeiros injury, Jingliang would face Bobby Nash)

FEBRUARY

UFC Fight Night 104: Bermudez vs. Korean Zombie

—–Date: February 4th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Johnny Case vs. James Vick (Case injury, Vick would face Abel Trujillo)

Evan Dunham vs. Abel Trujillo (Dunham injury, Trujillo would face James Vick)

Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jan Blachowicz (Blachowicz injury, Preux would face Volkan Oezdemir)

Justin Ledet vs. Dmitry Sosnovskiy (Ledet injury, Sosnovskiy removed from card)

Alex Morono vs. Sheldon Westcott (Westcott injury, Morono would face Niko Price)

UFC 208: Holm vs. De Randamie

—–Date: February 11th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SEVEN

UFC Fight Night 105: Lewis vs. Browne

—–Date: February 19th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Alessandro Ricci vs. Alvaro Herrera (Herrera injury, Ricci would face Paul Felder)

Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve (Struve injury, dos Santos removed from card)

Liz Carmouche vs. Sara McMann (Carmouche injury, McMann would face Gina Mazany)

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Michel Quinones (Quinones injury, Volkanovski removed from card)

MARCH

UFC 209: Woodley vs. Thompson 2

—–Date: March 4th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Todd Duffee vs. Mark Godbeer (Duffee personal issue, Godbeer would face Daniel Spitz)

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson (Nurmagomedov illness, Ferguson removed from card)

Ed Herman vs. Igor Pokrajac (Pokrajac injury, Herman scheduled to face Gadzhimurad Antigulov)

Ed Herman vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (Herman injury, Antigulov removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 106: Belfort vs. Gastelum

—–Date: March 11th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Henrique da Silva vs. Ion Cutelaba (Cutelaba injury, da Silva removed from card)

Alex Nicholson vs. Paulo Borrachinha (Nicholson unknown reasoning, Borrachinha would face Garreth McLellan)

Godofredo Pepey vs. Kyle Bochniak (Pepey injury, Bochniak removed from card)

Sergio Moraes vs. Max Griffin (Griffin injury, Moraes would face Davi Ramos)

UFC Fight Night 107: Manuwa vs. Anderson

—–Date: March 18th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Tom Breese vs. Oluwale Bamgbose (Breese not medically cleared, Bamgbose removed from card)

Brad Pickett vs. Henry Briones (Briones personal issue, Pickett would face Marlon Vera)

Lina Lansberg vs. Veronica Macedo (Macedo injury, Lansberg would face Lucie Pudilova)

Ian Entwistle vs. Brett Johns (Entwistle medical issue, Johns removed from card)

APRIL

UFC 210: Cormier vs. Johnson 2

—–Date: April 8th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC on Fox 24: Johnson vs. Reis

—–Date: April 15th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC Fight Night 108: Swanson vs. Lobov

—–Date: April 22nd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

MAY

UFC 211: Miocic vs. Dos Santos 2

—–Date: May 13th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Fabricio Werdum vs. Ben Rothwell (Rothwell doping violation, Werdum removed from card)

Jarjis Danho vs. Dmitry Poberezhets (Danho injury, Poberezhets scheduled to face Chase Sherman)

Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis (Cejudo injury, Pettis removed from card)

Dmitry Poberezhets vs. Chase Sherman (Poberezhets personal issue, Sherman would face Rashad Coulter)

Jared Gordon vs. Michel Quinones (Gordon illness, Quinones removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 109: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira

—–Date: May 28th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Magnus Cedenblad vs. Chris Camozzi (Cedenblad personal issue, Camozzi would face Trevor Smith)

Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo (Grabowski and Colombo injury, both removed from card)

Mairbek Taisumov vs. Joaquim Silva (Taisumov injury, Silva would face Reza Madadi)

Emil Meek vs. Nordine Taleb (Meek injury, Taleb would face Oliver Enkamp)

JUNE

UFC 212: Aldo vs. Holloway

—–Date: June 3rd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Anderson Silva vs. Kelvin Gastelum (Gastelum doping violation, Silva removed from card)

Leonardo Santos vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier (Aubin-Mercier injury, Santos removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 110: Lewis vs. Hunt

—–Date: June 11th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Joseph Benavidez vs. Ben Nguyen (Benavidez injury, Nguyen would face Tim Elliott)

Warlley Alves vs. Kiichi Kunimoto (Alves injury, Kunimoto would face Zak Ottow)

Thibault Gouti vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Gouti not medically cleared, Kim removed from card)

JJ Aldrich vs. Nadia Kassem (Kassem personal issue, Aldrich would face Chan Mi Jeon)

UFC Fight Night 111: Holm vs. Correia

—–Date: June 17th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Alex Caceres vs. Guan Wang (Wang injury, Caceres would face Rolando Dy)

Li Jingliang vs. Jonathan Meunier (Meunier personal issue, Jingliang would face Camacho)

UFC Fight Night 112: Chiesa vs. Lee

—–Date: June 25th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Ilir Latifi vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Rogerio Nogueira injury, Latifi removed from card)

Azamat Murzakanov vs. Joachim Christensen (Murzakanov injury, Christensen would face Dominick Reyes)

JULY

The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale: Johnson vs. Gaethje

—–Date: July 7th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Steve Bosse vs. Jared Cannonier (Bosse injury, Cannonier would face Nick Roehrick)

Jessica Eye vs. Aspen Ladd (Ladd illness, Eye removed from card)

Juliana Lima vs. Amanda Ribas (Ribas doping violation, Lima would face Tecia Torres)

UFC 213: Romero vs. Whittaker

—–Date: July 8th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FOUR

Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone (Cerrone staph infection, Lawler removed from card)

Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw (Garbrandt injury, Dillashaw removed from card)

Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko (Nunes illness, Shevchenko removed from card)

Alan Jouban vs. Brian Camozzi (Jouban injury, Camozzi would face Chad Laprise)

UFC Fight Night 113: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio

—–Date: July 16th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Mark Godbeer vs. Justin Willis (Godbeer injury, Willis would face James Mulheron)

Mitch Gagnon vs. Brett Johns (Gagnon injury, Johns would face Albert Morales)

Leslie Smith vs. Lina Lansberg (Lansberg injury, Smith would face Amanda Lemos)

UFC on Fox 25: Weidman vs. Gastelum

—–Date: July 22nd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Damian Grabowski vs. Christian Colombo (Colombo injury, Grabowski would face Chase Sherman)

Rafael Natal vs. Alessio Di Chirico (Di Chirico injury, Natal would face Eryk Anders)

UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2

—–Date: July 29th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX

AUGUST

UFC Fight Night 114: Pettis vs. Moreno

—–Date: August 5th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ONE

Martin Bravo vs. Chris Gruetzemacher (Gruetzemacher injury, Bravo would face Humberto Bandenay)

SEPTEMBER

UFC Fight Night 115: Volkov vs. Struve

—–Date: September 2nd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Saparbek Safarov (Rogerio de Lima doping violation, Safarov removed from card)

Michel Prazeres vs. Islam Makhachev (Makhachev injury, Prazeres would face Mads Burnell)

Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Abu Azaitar (Azaitar injury, Bahadurzada would face Rob Wilkinson)

Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Nick Hein (Hein injury, Magomedsharipov would face Mike Santiago)

Germaine de Randamie vs. Marion Reneau (de Randamie injury, Reneau would face Talita Bernardo)

UFC 215: Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2

—–Date: September 9th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Junior dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou (dos Santos doping violation, Ngannou removed from card)

Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg (Borg illness, Johnson removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 116: Rockhold vs. Branch

—–Date: September 16th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Justin Ledet vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (Sosnovskiy personal issue, Ledet would face Azunna Anyanwu)

Thiago Alves vs. Mike Perry (Alves travel issue, Perry would face Alex Reyes)

Luke Sanders vs. Felipe Arantes (Arantes illness, Sanders removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 117: Saint Preux vs. Okami

—–Date: September 23rd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Ovince Saint Preux vs. Shogun Rua (Rua injury, Preux would face Yushin Okami)

Jenel Lausa vs. Naoki Inoue (Inoue injury, Lausa removed from card)

Charles Rosa vs. Mizuto Hirota (Hirota not medically cleared, Rosa removed from card)

OCTOBER

UFC 216: Ferguson vs. Lee

—–Date: October 7th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX

UFC Fight Night 118: Cowboy vs. Till

—–Date: October 21st

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Dmitry Smolyakov vs. Adam Wieczorek (Smolyakov injury, Wieczorek scheduled to face Anthony Hamilton)

Ramazan Emeev vs. Trevor Smith (Smith injury, Emeev would face Sam Alvey)

Marcin Held vs. Teemu Packalen (Packalen injury, Held would face Nasrat Haqparast)

Jim Wallhead vs. Warlley Alves (Wallhead injury, Alves would face Salim Touahri)

Adam Wieczorek vs. Anthony Hamilton (bout rescheduled to a different event)

UFC Fight Night 119: Brunson vs. Machida

—–Date: October 28th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

Christian Colombo vs. Carlos Felipe (Felipe doping violation, Colombo would face Marcelo Golm)

Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov (Teixeira injury, Cirkunov removed from card)

Boston Salmon vs. Augusto Mendes (Mendes injury, Salmon scheduled to face Raoni Barcelos)

Niko Price vs. Luan Chagas (Chagas injury, Price would face Vicente Luque)

Raoni Barcelos vs. Boston Salmon (Salmon injury, Barcelos removed from card)

NOVEMBER

UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre

—–Date: November 4th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Ion Cutelaba (Antigulov injury, Cutelaba scheduled to face Michal Oleksiejczuk)

Corey Anderson vs. Patrick Cummins (Cummins staph infection, Anderson would face Ovince Saint Preux)

Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Ion Cutelaba (Cutelaba doping violation, Oleksiejczuk removed from card)

UFC Fight Night 120: Poirier vs. Pettis

—–Date: November 11th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: ZERO

No fight changes and/or cancellations occurred for this card.

UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura

—–Date: November 19th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SIX

UFC Fight Night 122: Bisping vs. Gastelum

—–Date: November 25th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE



Anderson Silva vs. Kelvin Gastelum (Silva doping violation, Gastelum would face Michael Bisping)

Cyril Asker vs. James Mulheron (Mulheron doping violation, Asker would face Yaozong Hu)

Bharat Khandare vs. Pingyuan Liu (Liu injury, Khandare would face Yadong Song)

DECEMBER

The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale: Montano vs. Modafferi

—–Date: December 1st

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Lauren Murphy vs. Priscila Cachoeira (Cachoeira visa issue, Murphy would face Barb Honchak)

Sijara Eubanks vs. Nicco Montano (Eubanks medical issue, Montano would face Roxanne Modafferi)

Barb Honchak vs. Roxanne Modafferi (Modafferi moved to fight Nicco Montano, Honchak would face Lauren Murphy)

UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2

—–Date: December 2nd

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: TWO

Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar (Edgar injury, Holloway would face Jose Aldo)

Al Iaquinta vs. Paul Felder (Iaquinta injury, Felder would face Charles Oliveira)

UFC Fight Night 123: Swanson vs. Ortega

—–Date: December 9th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: THREE

Eryk Anders vs. John Phillips (Phillips injury, Anders would face Markus Perez)

Bryan Caraway vs. Luke Sanders (Caraway injury, Sanders would face Andre Soukhamthath)

Aljamain Sterling vs. Rani Yahya (Yahya injury, Sterling would face Marlon Moraes)

UFC on Fox 26: Lawler vs. Dos Anjos

—–Date: December 16th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: SEVEN

UFC 219: Cyborg vs. Holm

—–Date: December 30th

—–Fight Changes/Cancellations: FIVE

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