The UFC makes it's third appearance in 'the city that never sleeps' at UFC 230 and the promotion tends to always stack the deck when they build an event in The Big Apple.
As fans may know, not every fighter scheduled makes it to the Octagon on fight night. Whether the withdrawals were caused by injuries during fight camp, horrendous weight cuts, illnesses, we realize that there are difficulties that prevent fighters from making it to the cage.
We relive our disappointment as we look at five of the notable cancelled fights from UFC events in New York City.
Nate Diaz vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 230
At the UFC 25th Anniversary Fall press conference prior to UFC 227, it was announced that Nate Diaz would be making his return to Octagon after a two-year layoff to take on lightweight contender Dustin Poirier.
At this moment, fans everywhere give a collective, "Just bleed."
Both fighters have had the opportunity to showcase against against former two-weight champion Conor McGregor, with Diaz splitting a pair of bouts with "The Notorious" one in two of the highest-selling pay-per-views in UFC history, while Poirier failed in his 2014 attempt. Diaz became a star after his bouts with McGregor, while Poirier earned the respect from the fans by putting on exciting fights and finishes.
Diaz has not fought since facing McGregor for a second time in August 2016.
Since his loss to 'Mystic Mac,' Poirier has went 8-1 with one No Contest in his last ten fights, making right of the bracket on his record after finishing Eddie Alvarez this past July.
Less than a month before the fight is to take place, Poirier pulled out with a hip injury. The taunts came immediately from the Stockton-native.
As of now, the fight is off, but there is no question that fans will be just as excited if the fight is rescheduled in the future.
Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold 2 at UFC 230
Just under three years ago at UFC 194, fans felt they were witnessing the new era of the middleweight supremacy; the one after the near seven-year reign of Anderson Silva. The man who dethroned Silva, then undefeated champion Chris Weidman was to take on final Strikeforce middleweight kingpin Luke Rockhold in the co-main event.
Weidman controlled the first two rounds of the fight, taking Rockhold to the ground to wear the Santa Cruz-native out.
Midway through the third round, Weidman threw an ill-advised spinning kick, which Rockhold capitalized on by taking Weidman down, then mounting him, turning the tide of the fight. Rockhold would rain down strikes to a grounded Weidman heavily damaging him, as Weidman would eventually survive the round.
In the next round, Rockhold would take down a compromised Weidman and finish him on the ground to claim the title.
Fans would reason that Weidman lost the title by error of judgement attempting the spinning kick, rather than giving the credit to Rockhold.
The UFC would attempt to schedule a rematch at UFC 199, but Weidman would withdraw due to injury and would be replaced by Michael Bisping. Bisping would shock the world and knockout Rockhold to claim the middleweight title, plus derail the chances of Weidman and Rockhold meeting anytime in the near future.
With current champion Robert Whittaker having victories over number-one contender Yoel Romero, whom already holds finishes over the next ranked fighters in Weidman and Rockhold, this leaves the number-two and number-three ranked fighters to duke it out for their spot.
Unfortunately, Rockhold has been battling a bad leg for multiple years, which has limited his in-cage activity as he has only been able to fight four times in the past three years, and was forced to withdraw once again.
Tyron Woodley vs. Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217
We know that Georges St-Pierre became the fourth UFC fighter to hold titles in two separate weight classes after defeating Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Prior to UFC 209 in March 2017, it was announced that St-Pierre would be challenging Bisping for the middleweight title at an event later on in the year.
After stalled negotiations, St-Pierre sent out a formal challenge to Bisping to fight in November at the planned New York City event.
During this time, White revealed he was unhappy with the negotiation process and was instead working on Bisping to face interim champion Robert Whittaker and St-Pierre would return against welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Unfortunately for White, Whittaker suffered a serious knee injury in his title fight against Yoel Romero and would be sidelined for the remainder of the year, and Woodley would under-perform in his successful title defense against Demain Maia, which White claimed did not warrant a shot with a pay-per-view draw like St-Pierre. White reverted back to the plan of having Bisping face St-Pierre.
The reason why Woodley-GSP would be listed ahead of Whittaker-Bisping is that St-Pierre made history this night winning his second title in his second division and Woodley going on to defeat Darren Till in his next bout. Whittaker rematched Romero and squeaked a close split decision, while Bisping would be knocked out in his next fight against Kelvin Gasetlum and retire shortly thereafter.
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