Demian Maia Off UFN 22; Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares New Main Event

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsDemian Maia has been pulled from UFN 22 on Sept. 15 after his original opponent Alan Belcher was forced to pull out of the fight due to an eye injury and no replacement opponent was secured, MMA Fighting has le…

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Demian Maia has been pulled from UFN 22 on Sept. 15 after his original opponent Alan Belcher was forced to pull out of the fight due to an eye injury and no replacement opponent was secured, MMA Fighting has learned.

MMA Fighting has also been able to confirm MMA Junkie‘s initial report that Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares has been bumped from UFC 118 to be the main event of UFN 22. The event will air live on Spike TV, and will serve as lead-in to the 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Alan Belcher Out of ‘UFC Fight Night 22’ Main Event Due to Detached Retina

("That’s it, go to sleeeeeeep." Alan Belcher and his little friend Johnny gang up on Patrick Cote at UFC 113. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
UFC middleweight contender (and unapologetic baby-choker) Alan Belcher confirmed yesterday that he won’t …

Alan Belcher Patrick Cote Johnny Cash UFC 113
("That’s it, go to sleeeeeeep." Alan Belcher and his little friend Johnny gang up on Patrick Cote at UFC 113. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

UFC middleweight contender (and unapologetic baby-choker) Alan Belcher confirmed yesterday that he won’t be able to headline UFC Fight Night 22 against Demian Maia, due to a detached retina. As he wrote:

While I was in brazil I started losing my vision in my right eye. I saw a dr that told me to go back to u.s. immediately. My friend/surgeon from biloxi got me an emergency surgery scheduled in alabama now just trying to recover. No contact for 6 weeks. Sorry to my trainers. Sorry to ufc & demian Maia, I know he has been training specifically for me. Sorry to my fans as well. As long as I get released from dr I will try to make ufn 22 to see my fans and watch the fights

In response, Demian Maia tweeted: "I dont know who will be my oponent. I think I still in the UFN 22 main event, but Im not sure. Ill let you guys know…"

In other words, Chris Leben should probably start warming up. The current lineup of UFN 22 (September 15th, Austin) is after the jump.

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Alan Belcher Out of Main Event Fight Against Demian Maia

Filed under: UFC, NewsAlan Belcher says he has suffered a detached retina and has been forced to withdraw from his main event fight against Demian Maia on the Sept. 15 UFC Fight Night 22 card in Austin, Texas.

“Sorry to my trainers. Sorry to UFC and …

Filed under: ,

Alan Belcher says he has suffered a detached retina and has been forced to withdraw from his main event fight against Demian Maia on the Sept. 15 UFC Fight Night 22 card in Austin, Texas.

“Sorry to my trainers. Sorry to UFC and Demian Maia,” Belcher tweeted Sunday. “I know he has been training specifically for me. Sorry to my fans as well. As long as I get released from doctor, I will try to make UFN 22 to see my fans and watch the fights.”

Three Reasons Why Silva vs. Sonnen Will Suck (And Three Reasons Why It Might Not)

In hyping UFC 117’s main event, the UFC is doing their best to convince fans that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen won’t be as painful to watch as Silva’s last three middleweight title defenses against Demian Maia, Thales Leites, and Patrick…

In hyping UFC 117’s main event, the UFC is doing their best to convince fans that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen won’t be as painful to watch as Silva’s last three middleweight title defenses against Demian Maia, Thales Leites, and Patrick Cote. Sonnen has the perfect style to beat Silva (so the story goes) and Chael’s outlandish trash talk might even inspire the champion to actually handle his business in the cage for a change. Do you buy it? I’m not quite convinced yet — personally, I think all the factors that made Silva’s fight against Maia so awful are also present in the Sonnen matchup — but in the interest of fairness, I figured I’d lay out both sides of the argument. First, why Silva vs. Sonnen will be another infuriating bust…

1. Silva Will Want to Avoid the Mat at All Costs
From a technical perspective, what made Silva’s fights against Demian Maia and Thales Leites so dull? Silva understood that those fighters posed their only threats on the ground, and he simply refused to allow the fights to go in that direction, which is something you can get away with when you’re a genius on your feet. Silva can’t be baited into going to the mat if he doesn’t want to, and he won’t full-out brawl with a grappler, and run the risk of getting grabbed and taken down. So he keeps his distance, landing a punch to the knee once in a while just to keep himself entertained. As a wrestler, Chael Sonnen’s attack is a little different — he wants to be on top and grind you down — but winning fights still means landing a takedown and turning the action horizontal, and Silva knows that. So if you’re expecting a firefight between these two, keep dreaming. It’ll be another stick-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move exhibition from the champ.

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Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher to Headline UFC Fight Night 22 in Austin

Spike TV announced earlier today that their next UFC Fight Night event will go down September 15th at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. The broadcast is expected to serve as the lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs…

Demian Maia Alan Belcher UFC Fight Night 22 poster

Spike TV announced earlier today that their next UFC Fight Night event will go down September 15th at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. The broadcast is expected to serve as the lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. Headlining the fight card will be Demian Maia — returning from his unsuccessful (and bizarre) five-rounder against Anderson Silva in Abu Dhabi — against fellow middleweight contender Alan Belcher, who is coming off back-to-back stoppages of Wilson Gouveia and Patrick Cote. As the press release tells us, "A victory over Maia will elevate Belcher’s chances for a shot at Anderson’s coveted middleweight crown." Uh, I think you mean Sonnen’s middleweight crown, bro. The current lineup of "UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Belcher" is below. If you have any early predictions, let’s hear ’em…

MAIN CARD (officially confirmed)
– Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher (MW)
– Matt Wiman vs. Mac Danzig (LW; rematch of controversial UFC 115 fight)
– Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau* (LW)
– Ross Pearson vs. Cole Miller (LW)

PRELIMINARY CARD (reported but not yet confirmed)
– Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson
Nick Catone vs. Tomasz Drwal
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Jared Hamman

* Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, Gleison Tibau’s birth name is Janigleison Herculano Alves. Weird.

UFC Confirms Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher for September 15th

While some believe Anderson Silva has or is quickly running out of opposition in the UFC middleweight division (of course Chael ‘Let Me Tell You Something’ Sonnen vehemently disagrees), the promotion continues to churn out sweet match-ups at 185. Today the UFC confirmed that, as expected for some time, Demian Maia will take on Alan […]

belcher akiyama

While some believe Anderson Silva has or is quickly running out of opposition in the UFC middleweight division (of course Chael ‘Let Me Tell You Something’ Sonnen vehemently disagrees), the promotion continues to churn out sweet match-ups at 185. Today the UFC confirmed that, as expected for some time, Demian Maia will take on Alan Belcher, September 15th, in Austin, Texas. Even better, you’ll be able to catch the fight for (somewhat) free, as the tilt will headline a UFC Fight Night card on Spike.

Now of course the fight will be Maia’s first since UFC 112 in April, when he dropped a Unanimous Decision loss to Silva, in a bout that many have tried desperately to erase from their memory (no; sniffing felt markers doesn’t work…). Belcher is coming off a slam-em-choke-em victory over Patrick Cote in May, to essentially extend his winning streak to 5 (we don’t have to agree with the official ruling that he lost by Split Decision to Yoshihiro Akiyama if we don’t want to).

So, there you have it. Another no-brainer, ‘what’s-the-game-plan?’ bout with a lot riding on the outcome for both dudes. In addition to the Maia / Belcher fight, the UFC has also announced that Mac Danzig will get an opportunity to right the ridiculous wrong he was handed at UFC 115, as he’ll face Matt Wiman again on September 15th. You likely recall that Wiman was awarded the technical submission win over Danzig last month, despite the fact that the former TUF winner was probably more conscious and aware of his surroundings than some of the people in attendance.