Chris Weidman Injures His Hand, Fight vs. Vitor Belfort Postponed Until February

UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 181 title fight opposite Vitor Belfort:

"

Belfort vs. Weidman moved to February, according to Vitor. Damn.

— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) September 22, 2014"

The news was confirmed shortly thereafter by MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani:

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Dana White just confirmed to me that Chris Weidman had to pull out of UFC 181 and the Belfort-Weidman fight has now been moved to Feb.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 22, 2014"

According to a post from Belfort (h/t MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz), Weidman suffered a broken hand in training and will be unable to make the date. UFC President Dana White would later take to Twitter to confirm the story, saying Weidman had a hairline fracture that will require him to wear a cast for four weeks. 

The UFC, however, was quick to find a worthy replacement for UFC 181's headline spot, with Helwani reporting that the welterweight title rematch between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will be moved to the December card.

"

As a result, Johny Hendricks vs Robbie Lawler 2 is now taking place on Dec. 6, per Dana White.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 22, 2014"

If Belfort vs. Weidman is indeed moved to February, it's worth noting that January features two different pay-per-views in UFC 182, headlined by Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, and UFC 183, headlined by Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva. Just one event is slated for February at this point—the UFC's return to London's O2 Arena on February 28.

With that in mind, it is possible we may see a late February doubleheader—an absolute pileup of pay-per-view cards within a small window of time—or the fight nudged back slightly to early March rather than February.

Weidman withdrawing from the fight is just the latest example of UFC champions' chronic injury troubles in 2014. There have been just 11 UFC title fights in 2014 between nine different champions with four more scheduled. If those four all hold up, it will add up to a shockingly low 15 title fights in 2014, which averages out to less than two fights per champion.