Despite a whole range of fighters, including Matt Mitrione, Tyrone Spong, and even Derek Brunson, offering themselves up as short notice replacements for the injured Stipe Miocic, against Ben Rothwell in Dublin, the UFC has decided to scrap the bout and pull "Big Ben" from the card. Miocic was pulled from the bout on Tuesday, October 13th, just 11 days before his fight.
As often as not, that's been enough time for the world's largest MMA promotion to find a fitting replacement for a fighter, but in this case, it was always going to be a difficult task. Even with offers from fighters on the table, the fact that the fight card is not in the US means that whoever they got to fill in would have to already have an EU visa in order. Especially in a thin division like heavyweight, there just aren't that many options, and no guarantee that the few fighters that fit the bill would be in any place to step into the cage on short notice.
Speaking to MMAFighting, Rothwell released a statement on the cancellation of his bout:
"No hard feelings towards Stipe at all. I've been on the other side of the coin. These things happen, and I'd like to hope that everything happens for a reason. Maybe there is a bigger fight for me out there."
...
"I was very much ready. One hundred percent ready to go for next week.
"I will shed a tear being in that crowd. I've been waiting 16 years to fight in front of a crowd like that, so I will pray before it's all over that I get that chance."
Rothwell also added that, if for any reason Alistair Overeem has to withdraw from his bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC on Fox 17 on December 19th, he would love to step in and fight JDS. Apparently, the UFC has informed him that he'll be first in line for any replacements in upcoming top heavyweight fights. In the mean time, here's a look at the revised UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Duffy fight card.
Joseph Duffy vs. Dustin Poirier
Patrick Holohan vs. Louis Smolka
Jon Delos Reyes vs. Neil Seery
Scott Askham vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Ericka Almeida vs. Aisling Daly
Darren Elkins vs. Robert Whiteford
Bubba Bush vs. Garreth McLellan