UFC 204 - Bisping vs. Henderson 2 --- UFC Fight Night 98 - TUF Latin America 3 Finale - dos Anjos vs. Ferguson
UFC Fight Night 97: Lamas vs. Penn was an upcoming mixed martial arts event that will be held on October 15, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Philippines.
Canceled fight card
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Featherweight Ricardo Lamas vs. B.J. Penn
Heavyweight Derrick Lewis vs. Marcin Tybura
Flyweight Yao Zhikui vs. Jenel Lausa
Featherweight Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Middleweight Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson
Lightweight Jon Tuck vs. Alex Volkanovski
Middleweight Dong Yi Yang vs. Ryan Janes
Women's Strawweight Seo Hee Ham vs. Danielle Taylor
Welterweight James Moontasri vs. Alex Morono
Flyweight Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ali Bagautinov
Lightweight Damir Hadžovic vs. Yusuke Kasuya
Background
The event in Pasay City was supposed to be the second that the organization hosted in the Philippines, with the first being UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Faber in May 16, 2015. The entire event was supposed to stream live on UFC Fight Pass.
A featherweight bout between former title challenger Ricardo Lamas and former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn was expected to serve as the main event. However on October 4, Penn pulled out of the fight citing an injury. In turn, the promotion announced on October 6 that they had cancelled the event entirely as they were unable to secure a suitable replacement on short notice.
The 19 remaining fighters on the card all will be awarded their contracted show money despite not competing. A UFC statement said the fighters on the card will be rebooked for future events, though it's not certain if the original matchups will remain intact. This was the third time, following UFC 151 in September 2012, and UFC 176 in August 2014 that the promotion elected to cancel an event because of a lack of a high profile fight to fill a main event spot.
A lightweight bout between Damir Hadžovic and Yusuke Kasuya, initially scheduled for UFC 203, was postponed after Hadzovic experienced an issue with his travel visa. The pairing was rescheduled and was expected to take place at this event.
Mehdi Baghdad was expected to face Jon Tuck at the event. However, Baghdad pulled out of the fight in mid-September citing injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Alex Volkanovski.
Oct 6 - Event cancelled, background updated