Costa Philippou has suffered an injury and will not be able to compete against UFC newcomer Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC on FX 8.
On Friday morning, it was reported that a cut over Philippou‘s eye resulted in the bout cancellation (via MMAFighting.com). This only one month after a facial laceration also forced light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson out of his scheduled UFC on Fuel TV 9 main event bout with Gegard Mousasi.
Philippou has won his past five fights, most recently stopping Tim Boetsch at UFC 155. A win over Souza at UFC on FX 8 would have moved him very near to a middleweight title shot.
Souza last fought under the Strikeforce banner and defeated UFC veteran Ed Herman to set up his transition to the Octagon. With three decisive wins since controversially losing the Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold, Souza is still considered an elite 185-pound fighter and is currently ranked No. 8 in the official UFC rankings.
It is currently unknown whether Souza will still make his Octagon debut at UFC on FX 8 against a replacement opponent. Michael Bisping and Yushin Okami are the only top-10 middleweights currently available to be booked, and they’d have to make very quick turnarounds from their most recent wins to face Souza.
Set to be held in Jaragua, Brazil on May 18, UFC on FX 8 is headlined by a second 185-pound contest between former UFC champion Vitor Belfort and former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold.
Update: Chris Camozzi will now fight Souza (via MMAFighting.com). Camozzi’s previously scheduled UFC on FX 8 opponent, Rafael Natal, will meet UFC newcomer Joao Zeferino.
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