The upcoming UFC Vegas 68 card on Feb. 4 will take place at the UFC APEX but the start times for the event will be much later than the average cards happening in the United States.
The event headlined by a heavyweight clash between Derrick Lewis and Sergei Spivak will feature a main card start time at 1 a.m. EST/ 10 p.m. PST with the prelims kicking off at 10 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. PST. UFC officials confirmed the start times with MMA Fighting on Saturday following an initial report from MMA Ecosystem on Twitter.
The reason behind the strange start time comes down to the event originally being scheduled to take place in Seoul, South Korea. Unfortunately plans to return to South Korea were nixed after “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung suffered an injury that left him unable to compete in February.
Without Jung available, the UFC opted to shift gears to put Lewis vs. Spivak in the main event but the card will still feature a number of South Korean fighters including the return of “The Korean Superboy” Doo Ho Choi.
As a result, the UFC will still accommodate a start time that will allow fans from around Asia to watch the card. In South Korea, the UFC Vegas 68 card will start at 12 p.m. local time for the prelims and 3 p.m. for the main card.
The UFC hasn’t finalized the bout order yet so it’s unknown at this time if the main card will feature five or six fights but the start time will definitely be later than usual in the U.S.
Lewis vs. Spivak was a fight that was originally scheduled to take place in November but the heavyweight bout was scrapped on the day of the event after Lewis suffered an illness that left him unable to compete. Now the heavyweights will meet in February instead with the card set for the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
