Former UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian (14-5) has suffered a knee injury that has forced him to withdraw from his upcoming main event bout with Evan Dunham (11-1) at next months UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event.
MMAjunkie.com was the first to report the injury to Florian, learning from sources close to the promotion but received no confirmation from the fighter or his manager at this time.
Heavy.com reports that Florian will be replaced by Melvin Guillard against Dunham at the event.
Florian is coming off a #1 contender loss to Gray Maynard and was looking to climb back up the lightweight ladder against Dunham. “KenFlo” has gone 2-2 in his last four fights, dropping a unanimous decision to Maynard at UFC 118, picking up submission wins against Takanori Gomi at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi and Clay Guida at UFC 107, and losing a title bout to BJ Penn at UFC 101 in August of 2009.
Dunham looked to erase his first career loss after losing a controversial split decision to Sean Sherk in September at UFC 119, a fight that earned both men the “Fight of the Night” honor. Before that loss, Dunham was 11-0 winning four straight in the UFC. He earned a split decision over Tyson Griffin at UFC 115, submitted Efrain Escudero at UFN 20 in January of this year, was awarded a split decision over Marcus Aurello at UFC 102, and KO’d Per Eklund in his UFC debut at UFC 95.
UFC Fight for the Troops 2 (aka UFC Fight Night 23) will take place on Jan. 22nd at the Fort Hood base in Kileen, Texas.
Update: Florian offers an update on his withdrawal from his website KennyFlorian.com.
It is with deep regret that I will not be able to compete in my scheduled fight against Evan Dunham on January 22nd, due to a knee injury I sustained during training this morning. Although I have not had an MRI as of yet; the doctors are cautiously optimistic that it will not require surgery.
I want to express my sincere apologies to the fans, the UFC and Evan for not being able to compete at UFC Fight Night 23: Fight for the Troops 2. Since early September, I have been training for this fight. Evan is a great fighter and has undoubtedly been working very hard towards this fight as well. Plus, it is a big disappointment that I will not be able to fight in the octagon for the brave soldiers that fight for us.
I am determined to return to the octagon in the first half on 2011. Accordingly, I will keep you all updated.