Injuries, weight cut issues, you name it and a fight can be canceled for it. Which is why it’s good to see that the UFC is now starting to have fighters on standby for their main events.

We saw it most recently with international fight week wherein the case that a headlining fighter couldn’t go, someone else was ready to step in and replace them.

For UFC 226’s big super fight main event between champions Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic, top-ranked contender Alexander Volkov was the man on the wait. The night prior, Thiago Santos was the man in case anything happened to Israel Adesanya or Brad Tavares in their Ultimate Finale 27 headliner.

Now we know who will be on hold if needed for the next upcoming title fight between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Darren Till at UFC 228 on September 8th.

After tweeting out, “Just a deep feeling in my soul, September 8th I will be the new Welterweight Champion of the world!!!” the No. 6 ranked 170-pound contender Kamaru Usman was confirmed as the backup plan by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

Per his management, Usman will in fact submit medicals and weigh-in during fight week, in the event something happens to Woodley or Till before UFC 228 in Dallas. https://t.co/ON1tWzf7l1

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 9, 2018

Per his management, Usman will in fact submit medicals and weigh-in during fight week, in the event something happens to Woodley or Till before UFC 228 in Dallas.

Surely this news doesn’t make the interim champion Colby Covington feel any better than he already did about this current situation.

Having won the interim title at UFC 225 against former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, Covington needed time to recover from a nose surgery after the five-round affair. The UFC decided not to wait for him and now Till gets his title shot and he will be stripped of the interim crown come the 8th.

 

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/9/2018