''UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs. Penn'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 97'') was a planned

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event that was set to be held by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

on October 15, 2016, at the

Mall of Asia Arena The SM Mall of Asia Arena, also known as the Mall of Asia Arena or the MoA Arena, is an indoor arena within the SM Mall of Asia complex, in Bay City, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. It has a seating capacity of 15,000 for sporting events, an ...

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location j ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Background

The event in Pasay was supposed to be the second that the organization hosted in the Philippines, with the first being UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Faber on May 16, 2015. The entire event was supposed to stream live on

UFC Fight Pass UFC Fight Pass is an American subscription-based video streaming service owned by the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, that launched in December 2013. History Fight Pass showcases live and on-demand mixed martial arts, submission grappling, kickboxi ...

. A featherweight bout between former title challenger

Ricardo Lamas Ricardo Alejandro Lamas (born May 21, 1982) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in Featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Lamas' father is Cuban and his mother is Mexican. The flag ...

and former UFC Lightweight and

Welterweight Champion Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

B.J. Penn was expected to serve as the main event. However, on October 4, Penn pulled out of the fight citing an injury. In turn, the promotion announced on October 6 that they had cancelled the event entirely. The remaining fighters on the card were all awarded their contracted show money despite not competing. All of the fighters on the card were rebooked for future events. This was the third time, following

UFC 151 ''UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson'' was a planned mixed martial arts event that was to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 1, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was to be headlined by a UFC Light ...

in September 2012, and

UFC 176 ''UFC 176: Aldo vs. Mendes II'' was a planned mixed martial arts event that was scheduled to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 2, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Background The event was expected to ...

in August 2014 that the promotion elected to cancel an event because of a lack of a high-profile fight to fill a main event spot. A lightweight bout between

Damir Hadžović Damir Hadžović (born August 8, 1986) is a Bosnian-born Danish mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Hadžović was born to Bosnian Muslim parents in the eastern ...

and Yusuke Kasuya, initially scheduled for

UFC 203 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, was postponed after Hadžović experienced an issue with his travel

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

. The pairing was rescheduled and was expected to take place at this event.

Mehdi Baghdad Mehdi Baghdad (born 13 April 1985) is a French mixed martial artist who fights out of Los Angeles, California. He previously fought for the UFC in the lightweight division. He was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 22: Team McGregor vs Team ...

was expected to face

Jon Tuck Jonathan Cruz Tuck (born August 28, 1984) is a Chamorro professional mixed martial artist. Tuck is the first Chamorro native from Guam to be signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and competes at the Lightweight division. His offi ...

at the event. However, Baghdad pulled out of the fight in mid-September citing injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer

Alexander Volkanovski Alexander Volkanovski (born 29 September 1988) is an Australian mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Featherweight Champion. He is al ...

Cancelled fight card

References

{{UFC Events UFC Fight Night Cancelled Ultimate Fighting Championship events 2016 in mixed martial arts 2016 in Philippine sport Mixed martial arts in the Philippines October 2016 sports events in Asia

Background

Cancelled fight card

See also

References