A whole slew of changes were yesterday revealed for a number of upcoming UFC fight cards, and for today’s Odds and Ends I’ll break those changes down. The first change, and most significant, is the UFC moving the light heavyweight bout between TUF Brazil 3 coaches Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva from the TUF Brazil 3 Finale in late May to the UFC 175 card in early July. There was no reason given for the move, but we all know that there were some problems from Silva’s end in signing his contract so perhaps that has something to do with this move. Regardless, there’s two big things to take away from this shuffle, the first being that Silva will no longer have home-field advantage as the fight is now in Sonnen’s backyard of the US, and the second is that the fight is now three rounds and not five. I believe these are both advantages in Sonnen’s favor, and I expect most to feel similarly when the fight rolls around. Due to the TUF Brazil 3 Finale losing its main event, the UFC decided to shift the co-main event of UFC 173 to the card, and now Junior dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic will be the headliner of the TUF Brazil 3 Finale. The fight, which was originally set for three rounds, will now be a five-round non-title main event, although since it’s a heavyweight bout it’s likely that won’t matter too much. Still, since dos Santos has more experience in five-round fights and since the fight is now taking place in his backyard of Brazil, I think JDS just gained a few little edges in this fight and I expect most will agree with me there. Although the UFC 173 card is now missing a fight, UFC president Dana White told Yahoo! Sports that another fight may be added to the card. As of now, the main card is set to feature Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw in the main event, Jake Ellenberger vs. Robbie Lawler in a welterweight battle, a bantamweight bout between Takeya Mizugaki and Francisco Rivera, and a lightweight bout between Jamie Varner and James Krause. That’s a solid card to be sure, but for a PPV it’s a bit weak and if the UFC was smart they would do everything they can to add one more big fight to the card. There’s been rumors flying around that the UFC may shift Dan Henderson vs. Daniel Cormier from UFC 175 to UFC 173 to make up for the loss of dos Santos/Miocic, but I have a feeling those rumors aren’t going to come to fruition as UFC 173 is only seven weeks away and that doesn’t seem like enough time for Cormier and Henderson to get a full training camp in. But we’ll see what happens, and I would expect an answer from the UFC in the new few days. Overall, I’m not really sure what to make of these changes. One on hand, I am happy that dos Santos vs. Miocic gets to headline its own card, but on the other hand I’m confused what the point of TUF Brazil 3 was if the coaches aren’t even going to fight at the finale, and especially since their fight was billed as one of the reasons for subscribing to Fight Pass. I also feel like fans who bought tickets to these events expecting those specific bouts are getting a bad deal in a way. However, the UFC can easily make good if the fights turn out to be epic, and considering some of the legendary names involves in these matches, there’s a very good possibility we do get some terrific action from these bookings. And at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.
