The UFC had an event coming up on October 15th set to take place in Manila, headlined by none other than BJ Penn vs Ricardo Lamas.
A few different stories have come out recently, and it’s not too hard to connect the dots.
If you haven’t been following international news, things are kind of dicey over in the the Philippines, it’s basically a free-for-all when it comes to suspected drug users and dealers. People are getting killed by their neighbors or jealous ex-lovers, and if they find drugs on the body, it’s all good. We’re oversimplifying things a lot – it’s a complex situation – if you’re interested in learning more, go do your own research and don’t rely on an MMA site, but in any case, things aren’t exactly stable in the region, and the government has told the UFC what they planned to do, which puts the UFC in a position where they basically had no other choice but to cancel it.
themmacorner.com
The government in Manila has said they are planning on drug testing every fighter, and will take away their passports if they test positive for so much as a hit of weed. You never know if they’d try to make an example out of somebody, especially a big name fighter. When they said they were also planning on drug testing every single UFC employee who goes there, like camera people, producers, heck even Joe Rogan, that’s when the UFC really had to call it quits.
They’re going to be compensating the fighters, and adding them to upcoming cards. BJ Penn had to pull out due to an injury sustained in training, or maybe he just caught wind of what could happen over there. BJ is allegedly rumored to be a guy who doesn’t mind puffing on a few plants, on occasion.
In any case, this sucks for the fans over in Manila, it sucks for the fighters, and everyone else who was counting on the paycheck.
The UFC’s official reason for cancelling the card was due to the main event fight being cancelled. It probably had more to do with political reasons over there, and the safety of the UFC and their employees. In any case, you can’t go somewhere where they’re already threatening your employees directly with harsh punishments for people who haven’t even broken the law.
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