Teixeira’s manager Ed Soares told MMAFighting.com today that Teixeira “tweaked a knee injury that he suffered in his October fight against Phil Davis and now requires six weeks of physical therapy.” The UFC is working on a new fight for Evans, although the date of that fight is yet unknown.
In the meantime, the UFC has decided to pull the Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva fight that was scheduled for UFC 184 on February 28th, and set it as the new main event of UFC Fight Night 61 six days earlier. UFC Fight Night 61 will still be co-headlined by Edson Barboza vs. Michael Johnson, but the way the UFC injury bug has been knocking off main events and co-mains lately, nothing in this life is guaranteed. The current UFC Fight Night 61 lineup is…
Teixeira’s manager Ed Soares told MMAFighting.com today that Teixeira “tweaked a knee injury that he suffered in his October fight against Phil Davis and now requires six weeks of physical therapy.” The UFC is working on a new fight for Evans, although the date of that fight is yet unknown.
In the meantime, the UFC has decided to pull the Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva fight that was scheduled for UFC 184 on February 28th, and set it as the new main event of UFC Fight Night 61 six days earlier. UFC Fight Night 61 will still be co-headlined by Edson Barboza vs. Michael Johnson, but the way the UFC injury bug has been knocking off main events and co-mains lately, nothing in this life is guaranteed. The current UFC Fight Night 61 lineup is…
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva
Edson Barboza vs. Michael Johnson
Ivan Jorge vs. Josh Shockley
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Sean Strickland
Wendell Oliveira vs. T.J. Waldburger
Rustam Khabilov vs. Adriano Martins
Sam Alvey vs. Cezar Ferreira
Iuri Alcantara vs. Frankie Saenz
Matt Dwyer vs. William Macario
Jessica Andrade vs. Marion Reneau
Cody Gibson vs. Douglas Silva
(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
Merry goddamned Christmas.
(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
(“Ay man, ain’t you that UFC fighter Rashard Lewis er somethin’? The name’s Johny, but m’friends call me Cooter. Wanna go out back and blow up some frogs?” / Photo via Getty)
Evans suffered a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament earlier this year and had to undergo surgery to repair the damage. The normal turn around time for this time of injury is usually 10 months to a year.
Evans was progressing well in his recovery and rehabilitation, but a hard week of training to make the final push into a decision about accepting the fight or not didn’t go his way.
According to UFC Tonight reporter Ariel Helwani who spoke to Evans this week, his knee is still not 100-percent and coming back as early as January wouldn’t be prudent to his long term success.
(“Ay man, ain’t you that UFC fighter Rashard Lewis er somethin’? The name’s Johny, but m’friends call me Cooter. Wanna go out back and blow up some frogs?” / Photo via Getty)
Evans suffered a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament earlier this year and had to undergo surgery to repair the damage. The normal turn around time for this time of injury is usually 10 months to a year.
Evans was progressing well in his recovery and rehabilitation, but a hard week of training to make the final push into a decision about accepting the fight or not didn’t go his way.
According to UFC Tonight reporter Ariel Helwani who spoke to Evans this week, his knee is still not 100-percent and coming back as early as January wouldn’t be prudent to his long term success.
Evans said his knee still felt unstable and he wasn’t able to explode like he normally would if his leg was completely healthy. With the minor setback, Evans is now anticipating a March return to the Octagon.
Alexander Gustafsson still hopes to fight in January or February, although his opponent is uncertain. One possibility being floated is Anthony Johnson, if he’s ever removed from the indefinite suspension that the UFC has him on related to recent allegations of domestic violence. According to Helwani, a decision on Johnson’s future should be made by UFC officials soon.
Okay, so maybe there’s a bright side. But still…is it too late to move this damn card north to San Diego or something? Because at the moment, the biggest Mexican star on the lineup is Kelvin Gastelum, for God’s sake. Bad times.
Okay, so maybe there’s a bright side. But still…is it too late to move this damn card north to San Diego or something? Because at the moment, the biggest Mexican star on the lineup is Kelvin Gastelum, for God’s sake. Bad times.
The injury is especially devastating for the UFC because Velasquez was slated to be the marquee face for the promotion’s debut event in Mexico, which goes down November 15th in Mexico City. Here’s what Velasquez had to say about his withdrawal in an official statement:
“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened. To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”
Velasquez hasn’t competed since his 5th-round TKO of Junior Dos Santos last October. This is the part of the blog post where normally I would recap all of the injuries that have befallen Velasquez during his time in the UFC, but I’ll just embed this tweet and spare myself the effort:
The injury is especially devastating for the UFC because Velasquez was slated to be the marquee face for the promotion’s debut event in Mexico, which goes down November 15th in Mexico City. Here’s what Velasquez had to say about his withdrawal in an official statement:
“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened. To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”
Velasquez hasn’t competed since his 5th-round TKO of Junior Dos Santos last October. This is the part of the blog post where normally I would recap all of the injuries that have befallen Velasquez during his time in the UFC, but I’ll just embed this tweet and spare myself the effort:
Mark Hunt comes into his first UFC title fight with a 1-1-1 tally over his last three bouts, and most recently knocked out Roy Nelson last month at UFC Fight Night 52 in Saitama.
As Mike Bohn reminds us, Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum is now the ninth scheduled UFC pay-per-view headliner of 2014 to fall apart. Basically, every UFC champion is injured or has been injured at some point during this year except for Demetrious Johnson and TJ Dillashaw, who aren’tdraws on pay-per-view.
Cormier will have his knee assessed in the next few weeks, and may decide to have surgery to fix an existing problem with his ACL. While that plan would put him out of action for the rest of 2014, he had already planned to wait for a title shot against the winner of Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, which is tentatively scheduled for August 30th. In other words, the timing could be ideal — unless Gustafsson wins in a controversial split-decision and the UFC decides to do an immediate rubber-match. As Dana White recently pointed out, waiting for your title shot rarely works out the way you want it to.
Cormier also busted a tooth while slamming Hendo to the mat during their fight, and had to get it pulled on Monday.
Cormier will have his knee assessed in the next few weeks, and may decide to have surgery to fix an existing problem with his ACL. While that plan would put him out of action for the rest of 2014, he had already planned to wait for a title shot against the winner of Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, which is tentatively scheduled for August 30th. In other words, the timing could be ideal — unless Gustafsson wins in a controversial split-decision and the UFC decides to do an immediate rubber-match. As Dana White recently pointed out, waiting for your title shot rarely works out the way you want it to.
Cormier also busted a tooth while slamming Hendo to the mat during their fight, and had to get it pulled on Monday.
