Late Thursday night it was announced that Jon Jones would fight Vitor Belfort for the light heavyweight title at UFC 152. It was a huge surprise and many were left scratching their heads. One person affected directly by the news was Alan Belcher.
Belcher was originally scheduled to face Vitor Belfort at UFC 153. It was a middleweight bout and would likely place the victor in the number one contender role for Anderson Silva‘s middleweight belt. With Belfort pulled from the fight, Belcher was left without an opponent.
Well, Alan Belcher went on twitter to discuss losing his opponent.
Everyone’s asking if I am mad at @ufc @jonnybones @vitorbelfort answer is no. this is a blessing in disguise. I have a spinal fracture.
— Alan Belcher UFC (@alanbelcherufc) August 24, 2012
Internally at Bleacher Report we questioned the validity of the last part of the tweet. Some felt that maybe it was a typo and that Belcher meant to type “spiral fracture”. Bleacher Report reached out to Belcher’s manager Malki Kawa to confirm the injury.
Kawa confirmed that Belcher had in fact suffered a spinal fracture. Kawa also confirmed that Belcher was hoping to be ready for a UFC return in November. He is targeting a fight with Chris Weidman which will likely be viewed by many as the number one contender for the middleweight belt.
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