MacDonald-Lombard Canceled, Johnson-Horiguchi Title Tilt Added to UFC 186

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A featured welterweight fight between Rory MacDonald and Hector Lombard has been pulled from UFC 186.

No reason was given for the cancellation of the matchup, but the promotion announced on Monday that a flyweight title bout between Demetrious Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi has been added to the April 25 card. According to a UFC release, updates on the canceled bout “will be provided when available.”

The canceled co-main event came as a surprise to Lombard, who took to Instagram to express his disappointment.

“I woke up this morning, and I got a text from [MMAFighting.com reporter] Ariel Helwani that he was sorry for my fight been cancel!” Lombard wrote. “I don’t have a clue at this point, but I trust the UFC made a decision for a good reason.”

Lombard last competed at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, when he captured a unanimous decision win over Josh Burkman, his third consecutive triumph within the Las Vegas-based promotion. MacDonald, who has also won three straight fights, was originally expected to receive a welterweight title shot before the matchup with Lombard was announced.

UFC 186 takes place at the Bell Centre in Montreal and is headlined by a bantamweight championship rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao.

The reigning flyweight king, Johnson has defended the belt five times since defeating Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152 to capture the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound strap. He most recently appeared at UFC 178, tapping out Chris Cariaso with a kimura 2:29 into the second round of their headlining clash.

The 24-year-old Horiguchi is 4-0 in the Octagon, with triumphs over Dustin Pague, Darrell Montague, Jon delos Reyes and Louis Gaudinot during his promotional tenure.