John Dodson became the latest fighter to drop off Dec. 14’s UFC on Fox 9 card Tuesday evening.
According to MMAjunkie, Dodson withdrew from his scheduled fight against Scott Jorgensen after suffering an injury in training, leaving the UFC to do some last-minute shuffling.
For those keeping track at home, Dodson’s injury represents the fifth major hit to this card, as Anthony Pettis, John Moraga, Kelvin Gastelum and Jamie Varner also fell off the night’s lineup in recent months.
Pettis’ injury was particularly devastating, as he was expected to defend his lightweight title for the first time against Josh Thomson. Because of his injury, however, the UFC replaced the bout with the current main event between flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.
Jorgensen was originally expected to face Ian McCall at this event, but “Uncle Creepy” pulled out of the fight in late October, also citing an injury.
No replacement opponents have been named for Jorgensen’s flyweight debut, but in a thin division, the pickings are slim.
Since McCall and Dodson were originally named as opponents for Jorgensen’s first trek to the 125-pound division, it is clear that the UFC is comfortable with giving him a top-level opponent right away.
Because of this, top 10 opponents like John Lineker, Ali Bagautinov or Chris Cariaso make sense. All of these men are coming off big wins in recent months and would provide an adequate test for Jorgensen to gauge how well he can perform in a new division.
Lineker, however, struggles to make weight with a full training camp behind him, and a short-notice bout will almost assuredly not work out in his favor on the scale.
Bagautinov and Cariaso, on the other hand, have always made weight, and they’ve each competed within the past two months, so they should be prepared for a quick turnaround.
These possibilities aside, Jorgensen is fully expected to participate at UFC on Fox 9, and his flyweight debut will be hotly anticipated regardless of who stands across from him inside of the Octagon.
Stay tuned. A replacement opponent will be released shortly.
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