UFC 157 Fight Card: Chad Mendes out of Event Following Manny Gamburyan Injury

Chad Mendes’ slow crawl back to featherweight title contention has hit another speed bump.The former 145-pound title challenger announced via Twitter that he’s been forced off of the UFC 157 fight card following injuries suffered by scheduled opponent …

Chad Mendes‘ slow crawl back to featherweight title contention has hit another speed bump.

The former 145-pound title challenger announced via Twitter that he’s been forced off of the UFC 157 fight card following injuries suffered by scheduled opponent Manny Gamburyan

 

Gamburyan was apologetic for his withdrawal from the bout, but no one can fault him for pulling out of the fight due to the multiple setbacks he suffered in training for Mendes.

 

There was a brief search for a featherweight that could replace Gamburyan, but that search has apparently failed, leaving Mendes without an opponent for an event that is now only 13 days away.

Since losing to 145-pound champion Jose Aldo, Mendes has defeated Cody McKenzie and Yaotzin Meza, two opponents who clearly weren’t ready to fight an elite featherweight.

Mendes is still widely considered an elite featherweight, but he’s gone a significant amount of time without picking up a win over a fellow contender. Hopefully, the UFC can re-book quickly for a fight with a worthy opponent.

Following Mendes‘ removal from the event, this is how the UFC 157 fight card now stands:

 

Pay-Per-View Main Card

Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche

Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson

Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar

Josh Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler

 

FX Preliminary Card

Brendan Schaub vs. Lavar Johnson

Michael Chiesa vs. Anton Kuivanen

Court McGee vs. Josh Neer

Sam Stout vs. Caros Fodor

 

Facebook Preliminary Card

Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice

Kenny Robertson vs. Brock Jardine

Jon Manley vs. Neil Magny

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