(You just hate to see a guy like Franca sidelined for anything other than a steroid suspension or drunk-driving arrest.)

UFC lightweight Hermes Franca has been forced to pull out of his scheduled bout with Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 17 on Feb. 7 due to a torn ACL, according to a post by Franca on the UG.  Franca said he injured the knee last Saturday and will now have it repaired.  He added:

Thank you UFC,my fans, friends for the support, i was training hard and i was so excited ,but there’s      nothing i can do, (could be worse), so Hermes franca will take a break for some recovery,and come back  stronger than ever like i always do!!!!

Nothing like referring to yourself in the third person to remind everyone that you are a professional athlete.  This is the second time in the last week that a scheduled opponent of one of the Lauzon brothers has had to pull out of a fight due to injury.  First Chris Horodecki failed his physical exam prior to a fight with Dan Lauzon, which meant “The Upgrade” had to face “Frantic” Bobby Green and get his testicles jostled.  Now Franca is hurt and the UFC will have to find a replacement to take on Joe Lauzon.

Lauzon, replying to Franca’s post, expressed his disappointment at the news and wished Franca a speedy recovery, real gentleman-like.  Then things got a little weird on the ol’ internets, with this remark from Franca:

lol Joe, u have no idea how excited i was to fight against you,  especially when i saw your brother fighting,man he sucks uhauahuahauha!!!!!!!

Next time for sure, maybe we can fight like kimbo, in the back yard just to see what is up!!!!!

Hey dan L. no offense!!!!

HF

To which Joe responded:

Hey Hermes, make sure you make it to your AA meetings. Go fuck yourself. Had a lot of respect for you before this.

No offense.

Well, now we’re having fun, aren’t we?  Nothing like a dialogue between a computer geek and a non-native English speaker on an internet forum to create discord and confusion.  Are they really upset?  Just jerking our collective chain?  Is it all a wacky and hilarious misunderstanding?  We have no idea, but thanks for making this kind of thing possible, internet.  This, and the widespread distribution of pornography.