(“Move along folks, there is nothing to see here!” Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)
If the title of this post sounds familiar, it might be because Alessio Sakara has kind of become a master of the do-over during his time in the UFC. Back in 2010, Sakara was scheduled to face the now-retired Jorge Rivera at UFC 118, but the bout was eventually cancelled when both men pulled out due to injury. The fight was rescheduled for UFC 122, but was cancelled again at the last second when Sakara came down with some Jamie Varner-esque flu symptoms that may or may not have been caused by tuna fish. The fight was then tentatively rescheduled for an August event but was eventually scrapped altogether.
So perhaps you should take the news that Sakara has been rebooked against Patrick Cote at UFC 158 on March 16th in Montreal with a grain of salt, because if history is any indication, Sakara ain’t making it to this fight in one piece.
As we all know, Sakara and Cote first met at UFC 154, where Sakara followed an incredibly impressive feat (dropping the iron-jawed Cote with a few well-placed elbows) with an incredibly stupid one (turning the soft part of Cote’s skull into a makeshift ash tray with a series of illegal hammerfists), resulting in a victory via DQ for Cote. Despite the vicious onslaught and the fact that the loss dropped Sakara to 0-3 in his last…three octagon performances (and 6-7 with 1 NC overall), Sakara recently signed a four fight contract extension with the promotion, so we can look forward to seeing him either disqualified or knocked unconscious at least two more times before all is said and done.
Honestly, the Sakara/Cote pairing might be one of the most appropriate pairings in UFC history. Foreign-based fighters known for their striking prowess? Check. Losing records in the octagon? Check. Consistently entertaining despite this? Check. The closest Sakara ever came to a title shot (or ever will) was when he defeated one of the most undeserving title challengers ever in Thales Leites in a snoozer at UFC 101, whereas Cote became the number one contender following a snoozer over Ricardo Almeida at UFC 86 and subsequently blew out his knee in what many fans consider to be one of the least deserving title fights in the promotion’s history at UFC 90. Like Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos before them, these two were destined to engage in a series of decreasingly important fights that all end in some form of disqualification or no contest.
So let’s place our chips on the table, Potato Nation: What will be responsible for the inevitable freak ending of Cote/Sakara II? An axe-kick to the taint? Sudden-onset narcolepsy? Trench mouth? A FRACTURED DICK?!
If it’s that last one, someone is gonna have some splainin’ to do.
[UPDATED] I don’t mean to boast, but…
Via FightersOnly:
Alessio Sakara has been sidelined for three months because of a kidney ailment.
The Italian welterweight has been having pains and other issues for some time and recently underwent testing to try and diagnose the issues. He ended up seeing a kidney specialist and tests confirmed that he has problems with them.
Three days ago I got some test results and the doctor (Nephrologist; kidney specialist) has ordered that I stop everything for three months because of the renal (kidney) stress. Right now my manager is getting the date moved [for the rematch]. I’ll be more motivated with the nutritionist to never again risk my health any more.