With less than one week to go until showtime, the setbacks to UFC 147 have yet to slow down.
This time, it’s the Ultimate Fighter Brazil’s middleweight title match that has been hit, as finalist Daniel Sarafian is unable to compete after suffering an arm injury. Instead, his spot will go to the man that he defeated in the semifinals, Sergio “Serginho” Moraes.
Moraes will square off with Cesar Mutante in the new middleweight final.
While the TUF Brazil finalists are not widely known to the worldwide UFC audience, the lost final is just another is a string of issues that have plagued a show that was once expected to be one of the biggest in UFC history.
It was originally designed as a starring vehicle for the long-awaited Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch, bound for a soccer stadium that would hold upwards of 50,000 fans. Those plans were soon scrapped when a United Nations convention scheduled for the same week as the show in Rio brought pressure to move the event elsewhere.
The UFC did, moving it to Belo Horizonte, but sent the main event back to the United States, replacing it with a Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva matchup. That bout, too, would never make it to the starting gate, as Belfort broke his hand in training and was eventually replaced by Rich Franklin.
Sarafian had stormed through the TUF Brazil middleweight bracket, winning each of his last two fights by finish — one by KO, one by submission. Unfortunately, he’ll have to wait to make his official octagon debut.
Below is the amended UFC 147 card.
Main Card
Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva
Cezar Ferreira vs. Serginho Moraes
Rony Mariano Bezerra vs. Godofredo Pepey
Mike Russow vs. Fabricio Werdum
Hacran Dias vs. Yuri Alcantara
Preliminary card
Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio Medeiros
Francisco Drinaldo vs. Delson Heleno
Hugo Viana vs. John Teixeira
Leonardo Mafra vs. Thiago Perpétuo
Wagner Campos vs. Marcos Vinicius
Milton Vieira vs. Felipe Arantes