UFC 196 has been renamed to UFC Fight Night 82 after both challenger, Cain Velasquez and champ Fabrico Werdum pulled out of the main event because of injuries.
UFC 196 was a pay-per-view event scheduled for Super Bowl weekend and was set to be headlined by the heavyweight bout.
Instead, the UFC has now confirmed that UFC Fight Night 82 will air on cable TV and feature a non-welterweight match between former champ Johny Hendricks and multi-time kickboxing champ Stephen Thompson, assumedly for a title-shot against Robbie Lawler.
The heavyweights will not be entirely absent from the newly reconfiguredย card, however, as the co-main event features Roy Nelson and Jared Rosholt.ย Other notable fights on the card include a flyweight contest between Joseph Benavidez and Zach Makovsky, light heavyweights Ovince St-Preux and Rafael Cavalcante and lightweights Josh Burkman and K.J Noons.
The next UFC pay-per-view event, headlined by Conor McGregor facing Rafael dos Anjos for the Brazilian's lightweight title, has been changed from UFC 197 to UFC 196.
As it stands, the reshuffling likely means that the UFC will have 196 in March, 197 in April, 198 in May and 199 in June before the promotions biggest pay-per-view of the year, UFC 200 in July.
