UFC forced to issue ticket refunds after Anderson Silva bailed on UFC 212

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, will no longer be competing at the upcoming UFC 212: “Aldo vs. Holloway” pay-per-view (PPV) event, set for June 3, 2017 inside HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

That’s because Kelvin Gastelum was zapped by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and rendered ineligible to compete (more on that here), which led to some unkind words between Silva and the promotion.

A frustrated Silva promptly removed himself from the UFC 212 line up.

As a result, the promotion will be offering ticket refunds at the point of sale, or online by clicking here. In addition, UFC released a statement on Thursday explaining the absence of Brazil’s middleweight hero.

Following the April 6 removal of Kelvin Gastelum from his UFC 212 bout against Anderson Silva, UFC officials attempted to find a replacement to meet Silva on June 3. However an opponent was not secured to face the former middleweight champion on short notice, prompting his removal from the card at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Due to Anderson Silva's withdrawal, customers may request a full refund of their purchased tickets until May 18, 2017.

I guess this opponent was deemed unworthy.

Silva was angling for a Yoel Romero interim title fight while division champion, Michael Bisping, was tied up with welterweight import Georges St-Pierre, a fight that has now been removed (because of this).

What a tangled web we weave.

To see the rest of the UFC 212 fight card and line up click here.