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Battered and bruised UFC 98 staggers toward finish line |
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Written by Chad Dundas
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Thursday, 21 May 2009 |
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 Some folks Online have gone as far as to suggest that UFC 98 is cursed.
While bad juju might not actually be to blame, it’s hard to escape the truth that when the UFC invades Las Vegas this Saturday, the fight card for the show headlined by Rashad Evans’ light-heavyweight title fight with Lyoto Machida will look vastly different than the one the company first planned. That’s because no fewer than six big-name fighters have had to pull out due to injuries in the months leading up to the event.
For the record, only one show in the promotion’s history – UFC 85 – has ever suffered more pre-fight injuries. Curse or not, matchmaker Joe Silva will likely have a few more grey hairs once this one’s in the books.
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Luckily for fight fans and promoters alike, the two “co-main event” attractions remain intact. Evans and Machida will provide a scrap that should go a long way to determining the future of the light heavyweight title over the rest of the year and Matt Hughes and Matt Serra will still finally get to settle their elementary school-style blood feud.
In the case of Serrva vs. Hughes, both guys might be past their prime and neither will likely ever again contend for the welterweight championship, but the fight still has a pleasing “better-late-than-never” kind of a feel to it.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, the rest of this fight card is tatters.
It seems like a lifetime ago that UFC 98 was originally supposed to showcase Brock Lesnar’s rematch with Frank Mir for the undisputed heavyweight title. The ink was barely dry on the press release announcing the fight back in March before Mir’s camp had pulled him out, citing a knee injury.
The UFC had no choice but to postpone the fight. Lesnar vs. Mir II is to be the final of the company’s pseudo-tournament to determine a true champion after Dana White and Co., created an interim belt during Randy Couture’s much publicized contract holdout.
The silver lining to Mir’s injury, however, is significant. The fight is now scheduled to headline the star-studded UFC 100 extravaganza on July 11. Certainly, the company is shedding no tears over adding a draw like Lesnar to a PPV it hopes will be its best-selling ever.
In its haste to find a new main event for UFC 98, the promotion offered Quinton “Rampage” Jackson a somewhat quizzical shot at Evans’ belt. Jackson, after all, had only recently lost the belt to Forrest Griffin, who had in turn lost it to Evans. Since then, Jackson had put together back-to-back wins over Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine, but many fans scoffed at the notion that “Rampage” would get another title shot before Machida.
In the end the UFC hardcores had nothing to fear, since Jackson turned down the opportunity to fight Evans, blaming a hand injury suffered during his decision W over Jardine. Jackson’s declaration that there would be some “black on black crime” in his fight with Evans will now have to wait.
Josh Koscheck was next to ditch UFC 98. The former NCAA wrestling champ and “Ultimate Fighter” vet bailed on a scheduled meeting with Chris Wilson due to a broken toe. Koscheck and Wilson were both coming off losses and the match-up of styles seemed intriguing if not altogether heart-stopping.
After Koscheck’s injury, Wilson inherited a fight with 170-pound WEC madman Brock Larson. Larson may be a sleeper in the welterweight division, as his only loss of the last four years was a submission at the hands of then-WEC champ Carlos Condit back in August of 2007. He and Wilson should amount to good tests for each other.
Next, hard-luck middleweight Yushin Okami twisted a knee and pulled out of his scrap with Dan Miller. Miller will now fight equally tough wrestler Chael Sonnen.
James Irvin, who was attempting to make a comeback after Anderson Silva annihilated him in their 205-pound fight last summer, had to pass on a chance to battle Drew McFedries after a knee injury of his own. Irvin was replaced by Xavier Foupa-Pokam and is now scheduled to take on Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102.
The show, as they say, must go on. In the end, it’s all amounted to a giant game of fighter Madlibs for Silva and White. In light of all the injuries, they’ve actually done a pretty remarkable job putting forth a good card, as long as one of the four guys in the main event fights don’t get the flu during the next few days.
Pending any further injuries, an updated UFC 98 card now looks like this:
Main Card
Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida (for light-heavyweight title)
Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra (WW)
Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (MW)
Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen (MW)
Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar (LW)
Preliminary Card
Brock Larson vs. Chris Wilson (WW)
Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague (HW)
Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley (LW)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Brandon Wolff (WW)
Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop (LW)
Andre Gusmao vs. TBA (LHW)
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