UFC 178

UFC 178: Johnson vs. Cariaso was a mixed martial arts event held on September 27, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Background

The event was supposed to be headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship rematch between champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. Jones won their first fight at UFC 165 by unanimous decision. Gustafsson pulled out of the bout due to a torn right meniscus and lateral collateral ligament. He was replaced by Daniel Cormier on July 23. However, on August 12, Jones was forced to pull out of the bout against Cormier citing a leg injury. The fight was rescheduled to take place at UFC 182. As a result, a Flyweight Title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso was moved from UFC 177 to headline this card.

The event marked the return of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, after nearly three years on the sideline, first with a coaching assignment on The Ultimate Fighter 15, then with various lengthy injury rehabilitations. He was paired against Takeya Mizugaki.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a mixed martial arts promotion company. It is the largest in the world and features most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport. Based in the United States, the UFC produces events worldwide that showcase ten weight divisions and abide by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC has held over 300 events to date. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, LLC.

The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held on November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions were to identify the most effective martial art in a fight, with minimal rules, between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Sambo, wrestling, Muay Thai, karate, judo, and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.

UFC 177

UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto was a mixed martial arts event held on August 30, 2014 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.

Background

The event was originally planned to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a Light Heavyweight Championship rematch between the champion at the time Jon Jones and challenger Alexander Gustafsson targeted as the event headliner. However, that bout was pushed back a month and scheduled to headline UFC 178.

A Bantamweight Championship rematch between current champion T.J. Dillashaw and former champion Renan Barão was expected to headline this show. Their first fight, contested at UFC 173, ended in a fifth round TKO victory for Dillashaw. However, the day of the weigh ins, Barão had to be admitted to the hospital as a result of his attempts to cut weight. Dillashaw faced UFC newcomer Joe Soto in the main event. Subsequently, Soto's opponent, Anthony Birchak, was removed from the card entirely.

Demetrious Johnson was expected to defend his Flyweight Championship against Chris Cariaso in the co-main event. However, on August 12, it was announced that bout would be moved to headline UFC 178 after Jon Jones against Daniel Cormier was delayed due to injury.

UFC 158

UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 16, 2013 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Background

The main event was the culmination of the rivalry between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, with the latter having been vocal in wanting to fight the current champion for nearly two years.

A rematch between Alessio Sakara and Patrick Côté, from UFC 154, was briefly linked to this event. However, Sakara was forced out of the bout due to renal stress.

Sean Pierson was expected to face Rick Story at the event. However, Pierson pulled out of the bout citing an injury and was replaced by Quinn Mulhern.

Rory MacDonald was originally scheduled to face Carlos Condit in a rematch. However, on February 18, it was announced that MacDonald pulled out of the bout citing a neck injury. Condit instead faced Johny Hendricks, who was pulled from his bout with Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger then faced returning veteran Nate Marquardt.