History has repeated itself. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has canceled its upcoming January 26th, 2019 event in Anaheim, CA.
As reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, the UFC will no longer be holding UFC 233 in Anaheim at the Honda Center on January 26th, 2019.
Breaking: UFC is rearranging its pay-per-view schedule. UFC 233 will no longer take place on Jan. 26 in Anaheim, due to a combination of factors. That PPV will change to another date, so 2019 will still feature the same amount of PPVs as originally planned. More info coming.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 12, 2018
UFC 233 in Anaheim was originally scheduled to feature a UFC Flyweight Championship bout between champion Henry Cejudo and current Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw in the main event. On December 5th, the UFC announced the fight was being moved from the Anaheim card to the UFC’s inaugural event on ESPN+ on January 19th, 2019 in Brooklyn, NY. The move left UFC 233 without a main event fight.
UFC 233 was also slated to feature the UFC debut of Ben Askren against Robbie Lawler, and a bout between James Vick and Paul Felder. Fighters such as Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz were also scheduled to fight on the card.
Following the news of the bout change, reports began to spread that a possible UFC Welterweight Championship fight between champion Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington was being targetted for the event.
UFC 233 was also slated to be running against Bellator 214: Fedor vs. Bader, which takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, CA on January 26th.
This will mark the second time the UFC has canceled a January event scheduled to take place in Anaheim. The promotion was originally scheduled to hold UFC 208 on January 21st, 2017 at the Honda Center. The event was also scheduled to run head-to-head against Bellator 170: Ortiz vs. Sonnen, which was held at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. However, the UFC was unable to schedule a suitable main event fight for UFC 208 in Anaheim. As a result, the card was moved to Brooklyn on February 11th, 2017. The UFC returned to Anaheim later that year on July 29, 2017 for UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2.
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