DaMarques Johnson
A nasty rib injury has forced Pascal Krauss (10-1) off this months upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 5 card in a scheduled welterweight bout against UFC newcomer Gunnar Nelson (9-0-1).
Stepping in will be former TUF 9 finalist DaMarques ‘Darkness’ Johnson (16-11), and not Rich ‘The Raging Bull’ Attonito (10-5), as Attonito felt that two weeks notice was not be enough time to properly cut weight according to the UFC.
Krauss spoke to Sherdog.com about his injury, having been injured on Saturday morning while training suffering bruised ribs, an inflamed chest muscle and a dislocated vertebra.
“I can’t laugh, can’t cough, can’t talk loudly or sleep without waking up at least 10 times at night,” Krauss told Sherdog.com. “I tried getting over the pain using medication, but it was just too strong. I am devastated as it’s already the second time I had to cancel a fight due to injury. I apologize to Gunnar and his camp, I would have loved nothing more than being able to compete with him. I was looking forward to this fight so much.”
UFC on Fuel TV: Struve vs. Miocic is scheduled to take place on September 29, 2012 at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England. The Johnson vs. Nelson bout is expected to air via streaming video on Facebook.
Johnson is in desperate need of a victory having gone 1-3 and 0-2 in his last few Octagon appearances. The former TUF 9 welterweight finalist was knocked out last month at UFC on FOX 4 as a returning Mike Swick made a successful Octagon return. The ‘Darkness’ also suffered a submission loss to English fighter John Maguire at UFC on FUEL TV 2 in April. His last victory was in November of last year, a first round knockout of Clay Harvison.
Nelson is a former IBJJF Pan American gold medal champion who has finished all nine of his mixed martial arts opponents. The Icelandic fighter signed with the UFC this past July and was last in action in February of this year at a local event in Ireland, finishing opponent Alexander Butenko via armbar.