UFC Champion Upset By UFC 232 Change, Former UFC Champ Returning, UFC 232 Embedded
- In the latest edition of UFC 232 Embedded, the news begins to hit the fighters that Saturday's card has been shifted from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The event features Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant light heavyweight title.
Amanda Nunes, the reigning bantamweight champion, arrives in Sin City to the change, while her opponent, featherweight titleholder Cris Cyborg, attends a church event. We also hear a meeting between Gustafsson and UFC president Dana White regarding the main event.
- UFC female featherweight champion Cris Cyborg didn't take the news of Saturday's UFC 232 event moving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles too well. And the fact that she didn't receive a message from her employers about it was even more of an issue for the Brazilian.
"This is crazy," Cyborg said in a self-posted video (thanks to MMA Fighting for transcribing). "They're supposed to contact everybody. We're partners. We're partners. We can't partner together and they don't contact you before. But I was in touch with my manager and he didn't know, too. He was buying gifts for his family. Nobody knows. Just really don't like. How can you call media and not call your fighters? For you to prepare yourself before and handle things before. How long do they know this?"
Cyborg puts her title on the line against reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in the co-main event. The card was moved to Los Angeles due to complications getting Jon Jones' fight license from the Nevada Athletic Commission. Jones battles Alexander Gustafsson in the main event for the vacant light heavyweight title.
- Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez officially returns to action in 2019, meeting Francis Ngannou in the main event of the first UFC event on ESPN. The card goes down February 17 from Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
Velasquez has not fought since UFC 200 when he finished Travis Browne to improve to 14-2. Ngannou snapped a two-fight losing skid with a victory over Curtis Blaydes in November.
Hey @francis_ngannou , I got you a trip to Phoenix for Xmas! Joyeux Noel! Y a toda la raza le regalo una pelea gratis por @espn el 17 de febrero. ¡Feliz Navidad a todos!
— Cain Velasquez (@cainmma) December 23, 2018