Well, we should have seen this coming.
Not that it matters to Anderson Silva, but UFC 155 was supposed to set the stage for a fight that would more or less* determine the next top contender of the middleweight division when Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch squared off. But as things are wont to do in 2012, it has just been announced that Weidman has suffered an undisclosed injury and has been forced to pull out from his scheduled fight at UFC 155. Newsday was the first to break the news:
Chris Weidman, one of the top UFC middleweight fighters, is out of UFC 155 next month with a shoulder injury, Newsday has learned.
Weidman said the injury occured Tuesday while training in Arizona with UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader and Levittown-based Strikeforce light heavyweight Gian Villante. The injury occured during a grappling session, the 28-year-old Weidman said.
“I hit a double-leg and that’s it,” Weidman said Wednesday. “My shoulder landed weird and I felt a pop. I can’t even move my arm.”
Weidman said that he hasn’t received an official diagnosis from doctors, but he believes it is a torn labrum.
It’s the latest in the continuing trials and tribulations for the Long Islander, who recently had his home all but completely destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Besides missing the payday, this has to be exceptionally disappointing for Weidman, who, barring some sort of insane last minute comeback, would have likely cruised past Boetsch and cemented his spot as the top middleweight contender. But again, even an impressive victory would do little to impress Silva, who has already stated that he isn’t the least bit interested in fighting Weidman. If you ask me, it’s Weidman’s own fault for lacking the drawing power of a Chael Sonnen or a Lorenzo Lamas. Maybe if he starts ripping off WWE speeches while doing burnouts with his Harley, Anderson will start to play ball.
But there is a silver lining in this storm cloud, albeit an infinitesimal one. Stepping up in Weidman’s absence will be streaking middleweight contender Costa Philippou, who was recently given a severe case of blue balls when Nick Ring pulled out of their UFC 154 fight on just one day’s notice after coming down with the flu. Philippou is currently 4-1 in the UFC, and most recently scored a unanimous decision over Riki Fukuda at UFC 148.
Thankfully for the UFC, Weidman’s withdrawal will not break their already stacked year-ending card. Then again, we’re still over a month out from UFC 155, so let’s just cross our fingers and hope that Weidman is the last main-carder to pull out.
*I say “more or less” because there are still some of you out there who are convinced that Michael Bisping is the true #1 contender and I have simply given up trying to convince you otherwise. If he manages to beat Vitor Belfort, however, I will start to entertain this ridiculous notion.