Fights put on ice

Wednesday afternoon was a rough one for fight fans.

First, the UFC announced that a highly anticipated bantamweight fight scheduled for UFC 219 in late-December was cancelled.

The fight was set to pit former champion Dominick Cruz against the hard-hitting Jimmie Rivera, with the winner widely expected to get the next 135 lbs. title shot against the newlycrowned T.J. Dillashaw.

Unfortunately, however, the fight was cancelled because Cruz broke his arm in training. As of Thursday afternoon, there was no word on whether the UFC was attempting to line-up a replacement opponent for Rivera.

As much as fans might like to see Rivera fight sooner rather than later, it might actually make sense to have him wait for Cruz in this particular case. There aren’t a tonne of bantamweight contenders just hanging around these days, and the fight represents an opportunity to either give Rivera a push or get Cruz back in line for another rivalry-building bout against the champion.

A couple hours later, the day got worse with the announcement that the headlining fight of next month’s UFC 218 card was off, as well.

The bout was supposed to feature featherweight king Max Holloway defending his title against the alwayspopular Frankie Edgar, but Brazilian outlet Combate confirmed that the fight was cancelled because Edgar had suffered a fractured orbital bone.

The good news is that Holloway took to Twitter to promise fans in Detroit that he would be fighting on the card regardless of whether Edgar was in or out, so there’s a good chance the 145 lbs. belt will be defended on Dec. 2 anyways.