Josh Thomson has announced he is injured and will not be able to face Gilbert Burns as scheduled in a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night 62, set to take place March 21 in Brazil.
That’s according to a report Thursday from Portuguese language website Lancenet.com.br and later translated by MMAJunkie.com.
Thomson did not reveal the specific nature of his injury or offer a timetable for a potential return.
The withdrawal is just another plot point on the trendline of Thomson’s career, which has seem him miss contests and training time with a multitude of injuries.
In 2008, Thomson captured the Strikeforce lightweight title but had to miss two consecutive title defenses because of separate injuries. That’s just the most salient example of damage injuries have done for the 36-year-old Thomson (20-7-1), who has never really been able to build up a major head of steam in his career despite the massive talent to do so.
It all seemed to be changing when he returned to the UFC in 2013, at least on the health front. In the cage, he fought three times in just over a year but dropped two straight after winning his debut over Nate Diaz.
His battle with Burns could have been an interesting one, given Burns’ world-class jiu-jitsu and Thomson’s athletic power-wrestling game.
For now, though, the matchup is on hold. Burns has not yet been removed from the card, and it is possible the UFC could find a replacement for Thomson. The bout was set to serve as the evening’s co-main event, though that too could be shuffled.
As it stands, the main event of the evening features welterweights Demian Maia and Ryan LaFlare. Welterweights Ben Saunders and Erick Silva square off on the main card as well; given that that should be a high-octane matchup, that contest could be moved into the co-main-event slot.
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