(Props: facebook.com/MichaelChiesaUFC)
Just days after UFC on Fox 5 lost its originally scheduled heavyweight bout between Brendan Schaub and Lavar Johnson when Johnson backed out due to a groin-pull, the December 8th event has lost another high-profile prelim match on short notice. The UFC announced yesterday that lightweight Michael Chiesa has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Marcus LeVesseur.
“Less than a week out from his backyard bout, Seattle’s Michael Chiesa has been forced to withdraw from UFC on FOX due to illness. The TUF Live season winner had been first slated to fight Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Rafaello ‘Tractor’ Oliveira, then lightweight Marcus LeVesseur when Oliveira was injured,” UFC.com reported.
The particular illness was not disclosed but one imagines that Chiesa would have to be awfully jacked-up to pull out of such a huge fight for himself. It would have been Chiesa’s first UFC bout since winning TUF Live at the series’ finale show last June, and he would have been fighting in front of his hometown fans in Seattle, on a FX-televised platform before a monster FOX event.
Its all fun and games when Strikeforce events go to crap because everyone in the freaking world is injured at the same time. But MMA needs the UFC to do well on Fox. Get well, soon, Maverick. We hope that UFC on Fox on 5 doesn’t lose any more bouts or else they may have trouble filling their Facebook, FX, and Fox slots.
At this point, it appears that Saturday’s FX prelim broadcast will proceed with just four bouts, most notably the re-scheduled lightweight contest between Jeremy Stephens and Yves Edwards.