Mookie Alexander provides a timeline of events that show the numerous hits the April 25th UFC 186 pay-per-view has taken.
UFC 186 is the promotion's first trip to Montreal since Georges St-Pierre defended his welterweight title against Nick Diaz in March 2013, and it's taken an absolute battering in recent weeks. Once promised a co-main event involving Canadian welterweight contender Rory MacDonald, then a double championship billing, MMA fanatics in Quebec are staring at the possibility of Michael Bisping (2-3 in his last 5 fights and coming off a loss) and C.B. Dollaway (coming off a loss) in the co-main event when they were originally slated to be the 2nd fight of the main card.
As we look at the ruins of what was supposed to be a fairly good PPV (considering the resources used for UFC 187 and 189), here's a look back at what UFC 186 was intended to be, and what it is now.
January 10th : Hector Lombard vs. Rory MacDonald is finalized as the expected co-main event for UFC 186.
January 17th : The main event of T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao is made official alongside Bisping vs. Dollaway and Rampage Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado.
February 10th : UFC announces flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi, while simultaneously cancelling the original co-main event of Rory MacDonald and Hector Lombard. It's later found out that Lombard had failed his UFC 182 post-fight drug test.
February 13th: Losing MacDonald/Lombard was no doubt a big loss to the card considering MacDonald was the marquee Canadian representative, but a title fight replacement involving one of the sport's pound-for-pound most dominant fighters isn't terribly bad. Here's what the card looked like after the bout order was finalized.
Main Card
T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao
Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
Quinton Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado
Michael Bisping vs. C.B. Dollaway
Thomas Almeida vs. Yves JabouinPreliminary Card
Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs
Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis
Chad Laprise vs. Bryan Barberena
Abel Trujillo vs. John MakdessiFight Pass Card
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud
Nordine Taleb vs. Claudio Silva
Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau
March 2nd . Bellator MMA files injunction to block Rampage Jackson from competing at UFC 186, saying that Rampage did not fulfill his contractual requirements.
March 24th : Dana White reveals to Los Angeles radio that T.J. Dillashaw is injured and out of his bantamweight championship rematch with Renan Barao. Demetrious Johnson versus Kyoji Horiguchi is elevated to the main event, while Quinton Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado becomes the co-main event. Abel Trujillo vs. John Makdessi is promoted to the PPV main card from the FS1 prelims. Fight Pass preliminary carder Claudio Silva was also yanked from the Nordine Taleb fight due to injury and replaced by Chris Clements.
March 31st: Having lost Dillashaw/Barao, causing the bout lineup to be reshuffled, the UFC booked Aisling Daly vs. Randa Markos to round out the Fight Pass portion of the preliminary card. Here's what the bout order looked like at the end of March:
Main Card
Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
Quinton Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado
Michael Bisping vs. C.B. Dollaway
Abel Trujillo vs. John Makdessi
Thomas Almeida vs. Yves JabouinPreliminary Card
Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs
Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis
Chad Laprise vs. Bryan Barberena
Nordine Taleb vs. Chris ClementsFight Pass Card
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud
Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau
Aisling Daly vs. Randa Markos
April 1st . Trujillo is forced out of the Makdessi fight with an injury and is replaced by Shane Campbell.
April 3rd : Judge Karen L. Suter delays her verdict on the Bellator vs. Rampage lawsuit to Tuesday, April 7th.
April 4th: During the Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas card in Virginia, UFC conducts a 5 minute interview with Quinton Jackson to promote his UFC 186 co-main with Fabio Maldonado.
April 7th : Bellator wins its preliminary injunction, sending Rampage out of the UFC 186 co-main event. Which leaves us with this as a pay-per-view card worth $60:
Main Card
Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
TBA vs. Fabio Maldonado
Michael Bisping vs. C.B. Dollaway
John Makdessi vs. Shane Campbell
Thomas Almeida vs. Yves JabouinPreliminary Card
Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs
Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis
Chad Laprise vs. Bryan Barberena
Nordine Taleb vs. Chris ClementsFight Pass Card
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud
Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau
Aisling Daly vs. Randa Markos
Depending on who replaces Rampage, it's possible that Maldonado loses his co-main spot to Bisping/Dollaway, or Maldonado gets pulled from the card entirely and another prelim (#RallyForCoteVsRiggs) has to be bumped to the main card.
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If you really want to stretch this out further regarding Dillashaw/Barao 2, consider this was arguably Plan C:
December 22nd : Dominck Cruz tears his ACL again, killing the Dillashaw vs. Cruz option for the UFC.
December 23rd : Raphael Assuncao announces a broken ankle injury, which eliminates Dillashaw vs. Assuncao 2.
Even factoring in Johnson/Horiguchi, Mighty Mouse was in line to fight he winner of Ian McCall/John Lineker, but the moment Lineker missed weight on January 30th and then managed to win on January 31st that option was thrown off the table.
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Keep in mind that this is card is precisely one week before Mayweather vs. Pacquiao (which is going to surely shatter the PPV revenue and buyrate record even priced at $99). Just about everything has gone against UFC 186 over the past several weeks, and unlike past injury-sticken PPVs, this one has had a little bit of everything as far as bout cancellations. With 3 weeks to go before fight night, we're one main event disaster away from potentially another UFC 151 or 176. As incredible as Demetrious Johnson is as a fighter, between UFC 174 and 186, he unfortunately may end up headlining the two lowest selling PPVs in the TUF era.
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