UFC lightweight James Krause announced on Instagram that an injury has forced him out of his UFC Belfast co-main event vs. Ross Pearson.
UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Northern Ireland had already lost its original main event, and now it’s lost its co-main event. Lightweight veteran James Krause confirmed on his Instagram page that he suffered a hamstring tear during training, and he’s out of his November 19th bout vs. Ross Pearson.
“It’s with great disappointment and frustration that I make this post announcing that I’m forced to withdraw from my UFC Belfast bout with Ross Pearson… again.
Monday morning during wrestling practice I tore my hamstring for what the doctor says is a ‘high grade,’ substantial tear in 3 different spots to my hamstring.
This is 2 camps in a row, and against Ross that I’ve had to withdraw from so my greatest apologies to him. This is not my norm and I pride myself on fighting any opposition that’s been offered to me. That being said during these training camps I’ve made a lot of progress and am very excited to show my improvements whoever and whenever that time comes.
Once again, my deepest apologies to Ross Pearson and the UFC. I’ll be back soon enough.”
There’s no word on yet on if a replacement will be sought for Pearson, who is coming off a welterweight bout vs. Jorge Masvidal, which he lost by unanimous decision. For Krause, he’s fought just once this year, winning a unanimous decision in February against Shane Campbell. As Krause mentioned in his statement, he was scheduled to fight Pearson in July, but withdrew from the matchup and was replaced by Will Brooks, who would ultimately beat Pearson by unanimous decision.
UFC Fight Night 99 is headlined by a middleweight rematch between Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall. The original main event of Gunnar Nelson vs. Dong Hyun Kim was scrapped when Nelson withdrew due to an ankle injury. UFC Fight Pass will stream the entire event, with the main card scheduled to being at 4 PM ET/1 PM PT.