When the Lavar Johnson versus Brendan Schaub match became official, MMA fans immediately were ready to predict an explosive knockout as the ending. Johnson is known for his knockout power while Schaub has had displayed a questionable chin but has KO power of his own.
Alas this exciting stand-up battle will not come to fruition as UFC President Dana White announced that Johnson has pulled out of the bout due to injury.
“Lavar Johnson is out of the FOX prelims with a pulled groin. He was fighting Brendan Schaub,” White said on Twitter.
Immediately, questions arose about Schaub and his place on the card. Reports later surfaced indicating that Schaub would also be removed from the card due to the injury to Johnson. Lex McMahon spoke with MMAFighting.com about what the future holds for Schaub.
“Brendan is very disappointed,” McMahon said, “but he is very dedicated and will be back to training. We will see how long Lavar is out and will assess Brendan’s options. I’m confident the UFC will get Brendan back in the Octagon soon.”
Johnson had built some momentum since crossing over from Strikeforce after two brutal knockouts of Joey Beltran and Pat Barry. However, the AKA product suffered a loss in his last outing to Stefan Struve back at UFC 146.
Schaub built his own momentum following his stint on The Ultimate Fighter where he was the runner-up to Roy Nelson. After the loss to Nelson, Schaub strung together four straight victories, including wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
All momentum was lost, however, after Schaub was knocked out in last two fights against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ben Rothwell, respectively.
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