The withdrawal of Caín Velásquez from his fight for the UFC Heavyweight Championship against Fabricio Werdum in the UFC 196 card caused great havoc in the event. The Mexican-American fighter was forced to withdraw due to a back injury, and a day later, champion Werdum decided to do the same, leaving last-minute replacement Stipe Miočić without an opponent.
The promotion's president, Dana White, told Yahoo! Sports that due to the unfortunate series of events, UFC 196 will move to FOX Sports 1 in the United States. The main event of the card will be the welterweight fight between Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson, which will be a five-round bout.
Werdum's statements were not well received by Miočić's team. The Brazilian declared that he would be willing to fight injured if it was against Caín. That sounded like Miočić was not worth the risk. According to Werdum's manager, those statements were not interpreted correctly.
The rest of the UFC 196 card will remain intact, and will also include a heavyweight duel between Roy Nelson and Jared Rosholt.
Another fight that arouses curiosity is the one between newcomers Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson, as if Gall wins, he will be CM Punk's opponent at UFC 199. That fight will be exclusive to the UFC Fight Pass service, but in Latin America it can be seen through UFC Network.