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By Anthony De Franco  February 14, 2010, at 6:11 am  In late 2009, the UFC suffered there worst injury plague in their 10-plus year history. They lost main carder after main carder and had to cobble together main events for at least three events. In 2010, we were to see a return to form. After all, that couldn’t happen again could it?
We certainly hope not, but the after the last couple of days, I’m beginning to get worried. First, Vitor Belfort has to pull out of the main event of UFC 112, and now Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is injured and out of UFC on Versus. Pro MMA Now broke the story.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (8-3) has had to pull out of his highly anticipated March 21 “UFC on Versus” bout with John “Doomsday” Howard (13-4) due to a knee injury. Pro MMA Now (www.prommanow.com) was notified of the bout cancellation this evening from an associate who spoke directly to Howard’s manager.
“Rumble’s” last fight was a second round submission loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 106 in November. “Doomsday” is on a five fight win streak, he is still undefeated (3-0) in the UFC, and is coming off a spectacular come-from-behind knockout win over legendary MMA veteran Dennis Hallman at the “TUF 10 Finale” in December.
Well, there goes another good fight down the tubes. Johnson also pulled out of the TUF 9 Finale against Matt Brown with a knee injury. Here’s hoping that it’s not a lingering problem. Johnson’s last fight was a loss where he was dominanted by top five welterweight Josh Koscheck.
No word yet on who will face Howard at UFC’s first card on Versus.
By Anthony De Franco February 13, 2010, at 3:54 pm It’s the best striker in MMA versus the best grappler in MMA. Anderson Silva will step into the cage with Vitor Belfort in Abu Dhabi, replacing the injured Vitor Belfort.
From the horse’s mouth at UFC.com:
“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”
The difference? Maia’s standup remains well below average and Anderson Silva’s ground game is still above average. Silva will and should be a huge favorite in this fight, as Maia has much less of a chance of defeating Silva than Belfort did.
This does raise other questions about the middleweight division though. Will Vitor Belfort receive a title shot upon getting healthy or will he have to re-earn number one contender status. If he faces Chael Sonnen, there is no guarantee that he’d win. Most of Vitor’s losses are to guys who were able to put him on his back.
By Jason Comack February 12, 2010, at 3:48 pm Mike Chiapetta reported last night that Anderson Silva will still fight at UFC 112. And he will be fighting as a middleweight.
White gave no indication as to who Silva might face, but said the fight will be in the middleweight division, indicating that “the Spider” will indeed defend his belt. At last Saturday’s UFC 109, Chael Sonnen soundly defeated Nate Marquardt and was promised a title shot after Belfort and Silva squared off. Now, with Belfort out, Sonnen seems the most likely possibility, but no sure thing.
Now the question Zuffa is asking themselves is who.
Chael Sonnen: Already was the number one contender but he can’t spar until March 9th. Considering how bad his cut was it seems unlikely that he would rush back to training.
Damian Maia: Logical choice but his eyelid is cut badly. He’s been medically suspended till August.
Yoshiro Akiyama: Sexy-Yama has been out of action for a while and is available. He’s a force of personality in Japan, not America. His record, 13-1, is worthy of Silva and he’s ranked in or around the top 10 by most MMA sites. The question is will American fans buy it? Will Ed Soraes approve?
Yushin Okami and Alan Belcher: Both are in the same boat. Middleweights in the top 10-15 range, that are coming off a loss. Okami got whooped by Sonnen while Belcher lost a close fight to Akiyama. Not sure the UFC or Ed Soraes are eager to see either of these guys in a title fight.
If Anderson is fighting at Middleweight Akiyama seems to be the only fight that makes sense.
By Anthony De Franco February 11, 2010, at 6:40 pm How many over the hill former champs can we put on one card? Apparently, the UFC is trying to set the record on UFC 115. Sherdog reports that Rich “Ace” Franklin and Randy “The Natural” Couture could be going to war alongside Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.
Randy Couture, fresh off his submission win over fellow hall of famer Mark Coleman may be heading back to the Octagon this June to take on former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.
The fight is in the early planning stages, and Couture confirmed to Sherdog.com on Thursday that he has been broached about it. He said he had to contemplate committing to the bout due to prior commitments with his film acting career.
Couture’s budding acting career should be put aside until he finishes up as a fighter. End of story.
Nevertheless, it’s interesting that we finally seem to know what the plan for Franklin was all along. He’s been healing some injuries since being knocked out by Vitor Belfort at UFC 103. Franklin has lost two of this last three fights and the one that he won was a decision of Wanderlei Silva that I’m not sure sure he should have won. This would be Franklin’s first fight at 205 since fighting Ken Shamrock at the first Ultimate Fighter Finale. That’s a long ass time.
I know that it’s early, but I got Randy in this fight. I don’t want to underestimate Franklin’s standup, but I love Randy’s boxing and the way he uses it to set up takedowns. So, I’m rolling with the old guy.
By Anthony De Franco February 11, 2010, at 6:27 pm Vitor Belfort appears to be injured and is off of the UFC 112 card in Abu Dhabi, according to Kevin Iole’s twitter:
Vitor Belfort is injured (shoulder) and off #UFC 112 title fight with Anderson Silva. Confirmed by @danawhite More details to come.
Normally, having the challenger in a championship fight miss the card would be a disaster. However, UFC 112 is so stacked that there is another championship fight on the card that can slide right into the main event slot. The question becomes what to do with Silva. Does Chael Sonnen jump ahead of Belfort and get his title shot? That might be a little bit difficult considering that he is suspended until March 9th. That would give him approximately 30 days to train rather than the full six weeks.
The other option is to match Silva up with a light heavyweight at UFC 112. While it’s possible, I just don’t see who you could possibly throw him in there against. Our very own Joe Silva, Jason Comack came up with a few possibility. Thiago Silva could possibly get in there, as could Luiz Cane. Both would be cases of muay thai/BJJ top-15 light heavies that are both coming off losses.
There are some other middleweight options, but I don’t think that Alan Belcher or Sexy-yama is jumping ahead of Sonnen or Vitor for title shots.
Hopefully, we’ll get word on what the plans for Silva are soon.
By Anthony De Franco February 7, 2010, at 3:32 am Nate….Nate….NATE!
How could you do this me? Rather than writing about Nate getting his rematch against Silva, or maybe even taking over the middleweight reins from Belfort, I now have to listen to Chael Sonnen’s annoying voice for eight months. This is what hell is like. I guarantee it.
Nate will be back on his feet soon, and you want to be on the bandwagon when he is. That’s why you should buy this shirt.
It’s the same shirt that we wore for UFC 102. That’s the beauty of these TapouT signature shirts. They are reusable. To quote a friend of mine tonight “That’s a cool shirt.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if that’s not enough reason to buy it, what is?
MMA Warehouse can get you this cool shirt for 35.99.
For more UFC 109 gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
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