UFC 145 in Montreal postponed due to 'scheduling complications'

Tough break for all you mixed martial arts (MMA) fans up North.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event which was to be dubbed UFC 145 and was tentatively scheduled for March 24, 2012, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has been scrapped.

The reason?

Apparently, a lack of available "star power," as well as scheduling complications, as reported by Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press, via his Twitter account:

"UFC postpones March show in Montreal, citing scheduling complications and desire to deliver "championship card."

The event already had eight bouts listed, which included Canadian stars Rory MacDonald, Mark Hominick and Mark Bocek as well as Brendan Schaub, Ben Rothwell and Strikeforce import, Chad Griggs.

The event, however, was lacking a main event and co-main event.

With most of the title fights booked for other upcoming events, Tom Wright, UFC's Director of Canadian Operations, tells The Canadian Press the promotion wanted to make sure they delivered a "championship-caliber" card to Montreal.

See what Wright had to say after the jump:

"In the end it was all about making sure that we had a championship-caliber card for a championship-caliber city. It's a complicated process. Montreal has always been a great UFC city for us. Bell Centre is one of our best venues across the whole UFC circuit"

One would think that now that the promotion has seven champions on its roster, it would be easy to find suitable headliners for an event. However, with the ambitious schedule the world's largest MMA promotion intends on having this year, it's easier said than done.

UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo recently competed last weekend (Jan. 14. 2012) at UFC 142. The bantamweight title is set to be challenged later this year, after Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber fulfill their Ultimate Fighter (TUF) commitments. 205-pound champion Jon Jones is currently on break after a busy 2011. Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit are already booked for Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 4, 2012) for the interim welterweight title and middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva is on the shelf until summer 2012.

Furthermore, the lightweight strap is up for grabs next month as Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar battle in Japan while heavyweight title holder Junior dos Santos is expected to meet Alistair Overeem in the summer of this year.

Montreal last hosted UFC 124: "St. Pierre vs. Koscheck 2" on Dec. 11, 2010.

It's expected that the above bouts announced for the postponed event will now be shifted to UFC 146, which is scheduled to take place on Apr. 21, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia.

As always, stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on this developing story.