(Could be worse, I guess. / Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting.)
Shortly after Jose Aldo‘s latest triumph at UFC 163, the UFC featherweight champ was hit with a harsh dose of reality. X-rays have confirmed that Aldo did indeed break his right foot during his successful title defense against Chan Sung Jung, and he isn’t expected to fight again this year.
As Aldo explained following the event, the injury happened midway through the first round, when Jung checked an attempted leg-kick, and Aldo’s foot cracked against the Korean Zombie’s knee. Check out the photo above (or any of these) to see the balloon-like swelling that Aldo was dealing with for four rounds, before he ended the fight by TKO with a little help from Jung’s own gnarly shoulder-dislocation.
Aldo’s inactivity has created a logjam of 145-pound contenders waiting for their shot at the title. Unfortunately, they’ll all have to wait a little longer.
(Could be worse, I guess. / Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting.)
Shortly after Jose Aldo‘s latest triumph at UFC 163, the UFC featherweight champ was hit with a harsh dose of reality. X-rays have confirmed that Aldo did indeed break his right foot during his successful title defense against Chan Sung Jung, and he isn’t expected to fight again this year.
As Aldo explained following the event, the injury happened midway through the first round, when Jung checked an attempted leg-kick, and Aldo’s foot cracked against the Korean Zombie’s knee. Check out the photo above (or any of these) to see the balloon-like swelling that Aldo was dealing with for four rounds, before he ended the fight by TKO with a little help from Jung’s own gnarly shoulder-dislocation.
Aldo’s inactivity has created a logjam of 145-pound contenders waiting for their shot at the title. Unfortunately, they’ll all have to wait a little longer.
Ladies and gents, we got ourselves a curse goin’. After losing three notable American fighters due to injury — Anthony Pettis, Josh Koscheck, and Robert Drysdale — we have even more UFC 163: Aldo vs. Zombie withdrawals to report today. Also falling off the August 3rd card in Rio are…
Is it a coincidence that four Americans and one Brit have all pulled out of scheduled matchups against Brazilian fighters on this card? Yes. Do Brazilian UFC fighters have a notoriously high win-percentage while fighting at home? Sure. Should we file this under #boringconspiracies? Why the hell not.
The current UFC 163 lineup is after the jump. You know it’s a bad-sign when a barnraiser like Machida vs. Davis is by far the second-most-interesting match on this card…
Ladies and gents, we got ourselves a curse goin’. After losing three notable American fighters due to injury — Anthony Pettis, Josh Koscheck, and Robert Drysdale — we have even more UFC 163: Aldo vs. Zombie withdrawals to report today. Also falling off the August 3rd card in Rio are…
Is it a coincidence that four Americans and one Brit have all pulled out of scheduled matchups against Brazilian fighters on this card? Yes. Do Brazilian UFC fighters have a notoriously high win-percentage while fighting at home? Sure. Should we file this under #boringconspiracies? Why the hell not.
The current UFC 163 lineup is after the jump. You know it’s a bad-sign when a barnraiser like Machida vs. Davis is by far the second-most-interesting match on this card…
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung
Phil Davis vs. Lyoto Machida
Cezar Ferreira vs. Thiago Santos
Thales Leites vs. Tom Watson
John Lineker vs. Jose Maria Tome
PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)
Vinny Magalhaes vs. Anthony Perosh
Sheila Gaff vs. Amanda Nunes
Neil Magny vs. Sergio Moraes
Ian McCall vs. Iliarde Santos
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT)
Josh Clopton vs. Rani Yahya
Francimar Barroso vs. Ednaldo Oliveira
Viscardi Andrade vs. Bristol Marunde
After racking up a laundry list of grappling titles including an Open-Division gold medal at the 2007 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships, Drysdale began competing professionally in MMA in 2010, finishing all six of his opponents by first-round submission.
No word yet on when Drysdale will be ready to return to action, or if Oliveira — who kind of dodged a bullet, here — will remain on the card against a different opponent. If any gross photos of Drysdale’s staph infection hit the Internet, we’ll be sure to let you know.
After racking up a laundry list of grappling titles including an Open-Division gold medal at the 2007 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships, Drysdale began competing professionally in MMA in 2010, finishing all six of his opponents by first-round submission.
No word yet on when Drysdale will be ready to return to action, or if Oliveira — who kind of dodged a bullet, here — will remain on the card against a different opponent. If any gross photos of Drysdale’s staph infection hit the Internet, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Judging from the immediate reaction to last night’s news that TJ Grant has withdrawn from his title fight against Benson Henderson, a lot of you seem to feel that Grant’s injury is somewhat less than legitimate. As the conspiracy theory goes, the UFC recognized that Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis would do much better business than Henderson vs. TJ Grant, and paid off Grant to fake an injury. (Who knows, maybe Pettis’s knee injury was bullshit as well?)
So let’s pump the brakes on this speculation right now. According to TJ Grant last night, the lightweight contender is recovering from a concussion suffered while grappling — an invisible injury, but still a real injury — and the UFC did not, and could not, pay him to give up his title shot. Okay? Can we all move on with our lives now? Oh, if only.
Here’s the deal: I actually believe that Grant’s not the kind of person who would sell the title shot he worked so hard for, but the almost universally-skeptical reaction that this situation produced tells us a lot about the UFC’s public perception — namely, that the promotion is a shady outfit that would pay its fighters to lie in order to set up more profitable fights.
Judging from the immediate reaction to last night’s news that TJ Grant has withdrawn from his title fight against Benson Henderson, a lot of you seem to feel that Grant’s injury is somewhat less than legitimate. As the conspiracy theory goes, the UFC recognized that Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis would do much better business than Henderson vs. TJ Grant, and paid off Grant to fake an injury. (Who knows, maybe Pettis’s knee injury was bullshit as well?)
So let’s pump the brakes on this speculation right now. According to TJ Grant last night, the lightweight contender is recovering from a concussion suffered while grappling — an invisible injury, but still a real injury — and the UFC did not, and could not, pay him to give up his title shot. Okay? Can we all move on with our lives now? Oh, if only.
Here’s the deal: I actually believe that Grant’s not the kind of person who would sell the title shot he worked so hard for, but the almost universally-skeptical reaction that this situation produced tells us a lot about the UFC’s public perception — namely, that the promotion is a shady outfit that would pay its fighters to lie in order to set up more profitable fights.
The UFC and TJ Grant have every right to be offended by this suggestion. Unfortunately, a century’s worth of dirty-dealings in the fight business have trained fans to expect the worst when things work out a little too conveniently for a promoter. It’s especially unfortunate for TJ Grant, a humble, hard-working guy who has been fielding some rather nasty accusations since last night, and may be hearing about this for a long time. That’s the reality. But since the UFC is an organization that has always valued secrecy in its business dealings, perceptions of unethical behavior will always linger among MMA’s more imaginative fans.
The bottom line is this: You can all feel free to call this a “work,” as long as you acknowledge that you have no actual proof to back that opinion up.
The bottom line is, Henderson is making his next title defense against the last guy to beat him, thanks in part to a legendary highlight-reel kick that haunts Henderson to this day. Now that’s a story the UFC can sell. We’ll pass along more details when we have them.
(Oh, don’t act so surprised. / Photo via Getty Images)
The bottom line is, Henderson is making his next title defense against the last guy to beat him, thanks in part to a legendary highlight-reel kick that haunts Henderson to this day. Now that’s a story the UFC can sell. We’ll pass along more details when we have them.
