April 25th’s UFC 186 event in Montreal, Canada has undergone a major change with hometown hero Rory MacDonald no longer fighting Hector Lombard in the co-main event of the evening.
At this stage no reason has been given for that fight being scratched from the card, but the UFC have announced a new co-main event for the evening which will see flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson defending his title against Japan’s Kyoji Horiguchi.
Johnson is currently enjoying a seven fight winning streak in the UFC and is looking to make the sixth defense of his 125lb title in a little over two years. ‘Mighty Mouse’ is also ranked No.3 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound list behind Jon Jones and Jose Aldo, but despite that he’s not yet become a significant draw for the promotion.
His complete domination of the division means that fresh, worthy challengers have become few and far between. John Lineker had been tagged as a legitimate challenger, but despite winning his last fight with Ian McCall, ‘Hands Of Stone’s’ failure to make weight for the fourth time in his UFC run has led to him being banished to the bantamweight division.
His loss is Horiguchi’s gain and he gets the title shot despite only being ranked at No.8 in the division at this moment in time.
‘The Supernova’, formerly a Shooto champion, has impressed so far in his UFC campaign though sine joining in 2013 with four victories in a row. Nevertheless, he’s not yet fought a top 10 opponent at 125lbs so he’s got his work cut out for him taking on an opponent of Johnson’s caliber here.
UFC 186 is headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between TJ Dillashaw and Renan Barao while Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson Vs Fabio Maldonado and Michael Bisping Vs CB Dolloway also features on the PPV main card.
