(Photo via Getty)
UFC Fight Night 56 just lost its co-main event: Ian McCall vs. John Lineker.
The UFC made an announcement about McCall’s condition earlier this morning, stating that McCall had “taken ill” after the weigh ins in Brazil and withdrew as a result.
There is no replacement for McCall, so Lineker just won’t fight and Alan Jouban vs. Warlley Alves [Ed’s note: LOL who are these guys?] will be upgraded to co-main event.
MMAJunkie claimed McCall’s infection was viral and it was severe enough to land McCall in the hospital last night.
And as Junkie noted, McCall admitted to being sick before he left for Brazil.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I just got my blood work back, my white blood cell count is through the roof,” he told MMA Weekly’s Majority Radio. “I’m sick, over-trained, or whatever it may be.”
Honestly, this sucks. It sucks because we legitimately wanted to see how this fight would play out — especially since McCall taunted Lineker, who missed weight his first attempt, at the weigh-ins by taking an extra-long swig of whatever drink it was he was using to rehydrate. It also sucks because now UFC Fight Night 56 is that much less powerful.
While you can’t necessarily provide a full judgement of a fight card before you watch it, you can at least provide an on-paper judgement. And on paper, this card just got a whole lot worse. Anyone who recognizes all the names gets a free XXL CagePotato t-shirt [Ed’s note: Not really].
Here’s the full card, in case you forgot:
Main card
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Mauricio Rua
Alan Jouban vs. Warlley Alves
Leon Edwards vs. Claudio Silva
Jorge de Oliveira vs. Dhiego Lima
Nina Ansaroff vs. Juliana Lima
Preliminary card
Rodolfo Rubio vs. Diego Rivas
Trevor Smith vs. Caio Magalhaes
Charlie Brenneman vs. Leandro Silva
Tim Gorman vs. Thomas Almeida
Colby Covington vs. Wagner Silva