There are certain things a person never wants to hear. Among them are these little gems: “It’s yours, ”“The check’s in the mail,” “Trust me,” “We need to talk” and “Can you step out of the car, please?” If you’re UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, the one thing you certainly don’t want to hear right now is another message letting you know that a fighter has been injured.
The UFC has faced quite the run of injuries as of late. With that in mind, it’s easy to imagine Silva cringing each time he hears his phone ring or receives a text or email alert.
One of the latest fighters who Silva had to find a replacement for was Michael Bisping. The middleweight had been scheduled to face Tim Boetsch at UFC 149, but an injury forced Bisping from the card. Bisping recently spoke to Karyn Bryant about that injury, indicating that he had been having problems with his knee during his training for the Boetsch fight.
An MRI showed that those problems consisted of some lose cartilage as well as a torn meniscus. Long story short, Bisping is in need of surgery and is facing an unknown amount of time on the shelf.
Bisping had hoped that a victory over Tim Boetsch at UFC 149 would have put him in position to face the winner of the upcoming Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen middleweight title bout that is scheduled to headline UFC 148 on July 7. While it’s possible that Bisping could still be considered for that bout after his recovery, it’s also possible that the missed fight with Boetsch will allow someone else to move up and claim the crown of top contender.
One possibility to face the winner of the Silva vs. Sonnen bout could be the winner of the Hector Lombard vs. Boetsch fight, which was put together after Bisping’s injury. Lombard had been booked to face Brian Stann at UFC on FOX 4, but an injury to Stann forced that fight to be scrapped. The Bisping injury allowed the UFC to slot Lombard into Bisping’s spot at UFC 149.
Lombard will make his UFC debut when he faces Boetsch. On the line for Lombard will be a 25-fight unbeaten streak. For his part, Boetsch is on a three-fight winning streak since dropping down to middleweight from light heavyweight, with his last victory being a TKO win over Yushin Okami at UFC 144.
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