UFC 196 Moved from Pay-Per-View to Fox Sports 1 After Main Event Cancellation

UFC 196 isn't cancelled, but it isn't going to be on pay-per-view, either. Following the collapse of the card's main event, the UFC has opted to pull UFC 196 off of pay-per-view and put it on its regular television broadcast partner, Fox Sports 1. The announcement came from UFC President Dana White through Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole.

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The decision was prompted by the sudden withdrawals of UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum and his challenger, Cain Velasquez. That title fight, a rematch of their UFC 188 clash which Werdum won via submission, served as the backbone to UFC 196's pay-per-view status. Unfortunately, within the span of 24 hours, both Werdum and Velasquez would pull out of the fight with back injuries.

With the card less than two weeks away, cobbling together a replacement main event was next to impossible. What's more, there were no realistic options elsewhere on the card, with the co-headliner being a solid—but only solid—welterweight tilt between Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson.

Rather than cancelling the event entirely, as they did with UFC 151 and UFC 176, the UFC is instead calling an audible by moving the card to cable television. While other numbered UFC events have been broadcasted outside of pay-per-view in the past (UFC 122, for example, aired on same-day tape delay on Spike TV), this is the first time the UFC has moved an intact card off of pay-per-view.

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Good for UFC. Moving UFC 196 to Fox Sports 1 is the right move, even though I'm sure calling the PPV providers was painful.

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) January 26, 2016"

Though a Werdum-less UFC 196 was unlikely to be worth the asking price, the remaining fights combine for a strong Fox Sports 1 card. In addition to the headliner, there are other interesting matchups in Jared Rosholt vs. Roy Nelson, Joseph Benavidez vs. Zach Makovsky and Derrick Lewis vs. Damian Grabowski.

Though the changes leave the UFC heavyweight title picture a complete mess, fans will still get a solid night of fights out of it.