On Monday, someone from the Shark Fights promotion announced a replacement fighter for injured heavyweight champ Darrill Schoonover for the upcoming Shark Fights 21 event.
Schoonover, who suffered a shoulder injury, had been scheduled to face former WWE star Bobby Lashley (6-1) in a heavyweight title bout. A Tweet from the promotion earlier in the day announced former UFC vet Tim ‘The Thrashing Machine’ Hague (13-5) as Schoonover’s replacement, but promotion officials were quick to squash the news saying
MMAjunkie.com spoke to Shark Fights CEO Bud Brutsman who told them “It’s not Tim Hague, we haven’t even signed him.”
Brutsman also told the website that Schoonover had been stripped of the Shark Fights title, and that the Lashley vs. TBA bout will be for the heavyweight belt.
Shark Fights 21 is scheduled to take place on November 11th at the Fair Park Coliseum in Lubbock, Texas. The event will air via tape delay on FUEL TV on December 23rd.
Lashley had been scheduled to fight this past July against Eddie Sanchez at the Titan FC 19 event, but withdrew due to personal reasons. The former pro-wrestling stars last mma match took place in March, earning a unanimous decision over John Ott at the Titan FC 17 event in Kansas. The victory erased Lashley’s first career loss, after a TKO (corner stoppage) against Chad Griggs at the Strikeforce: Houston event last summer.
Hague is a former UFC vet with five Octagon appearances to his name, but just a 1-4 record in those five appearances. ‘The Thrashing Machine’ last fought for the UFC last January at the Fight for the Troops 2 event, losing by first round TKO to Matt Mitrione.