UFC 186 has lost its original co-headliner, but its replacement comes with championship stakes.
UFC officials today announced the cancellation of a welterweight co-main event between Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Hector Lombard (35-4-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC). In its place, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (21-2-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) meets Kyoji Horiguchi (15-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC).
UFC 186 takes place April 25 at Montreal’s Bell Centre. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
According to the announcement, MacDonald and Lombard, respectively ranked No. 3 and No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, have “been removed from the card and updates for both fighters will be provided when available.” A reason for the cancellation of the bout wasn’t given.
Johnson, ranked No. 1 at flyweight (and No. 3 pound-for-pound), now meets No. 7-ranked Horiguchi in its place.
Johnson, the first and only UFC 125-pound champion, is riding a seven-fight winning streak with five consecutive title defenses. The 28-year-old AMC Pankration fighter, who’s recently defeated the likes of Ali Bagautinov and Chris Cariaso, was expected to fight the winner of a UFC 183 bout between John Lineker and Ian McCall, but winner Lineker missed weight and is now forced to go to bantamweight.
That opened the door for Horiguchi, who’s won nine straight fights, including four consecutive bouts since joining the UFC in 2013. After a UFC-debut TKO win over Dustin Pague, the 24-year-old Japanese fighter and former Shooto champion dropped to flyweight and earned decision victories over Darrell Montague and Louis Gaudinot, as well as a TKO win over Jon Delos Reyes.
In addition to the new co-headliner, UFC 186 also added a lightweight fight between “The Ultimate Fighter Nations” winner Chad Laprise (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who’s defeated Olivier Aubin-Mercier (at welterweight) and Yosdenis Cedeno (lightweight) under the UFC banner, and Bryan Barberena (10-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who ran his winning streak to seven fights with a UFC-debut TKO win over Joe Ellenberger in December.
The latest UFC 186 lineup now includes:
- Champ T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao – for UFC bantamweight title
- Champ Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi – for flyweight title
- Quinton Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado
- Michael Bisping vs. C.B. Dollaway
- Thomas Almeida vs. Yves Jabouin
- Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs
- Kevin Barnerena vs. Chad Laprise
- John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud
- Claudio Silva vs. Nordine Taleb
- Valerie Letourneau vs. Jessica Rakoczy
Champ Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi is UFC 186's new co-main event
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