(Does Houston’s abdomen remind anybody else of Kuato? Photo courtesy of jhiner.)

Bad news for fans who wanted to see Houston Alexander‘s do-or-die, for-real-this-time fight against Andre Gusmao at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas). As confirmed on UFC.com, the Assassin has suffered a broken hand and has withdrawn from the match, making him the sixth big-name fighter to be scratched from the event. According to Fightlinker’s records, "Evans vs. Machida" is just one injury away from tying the all-time UFC record for unfortunate pull-outs, which is currently held by UFC 85. To recap the black cloud that has been hanging over UFC 98…


— Frank Mir‘s knee problems postpone heavyweight title unification fight against Brock Lesnar to UFC 100 (3/6)
— Quinton Jackson turns down offer to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 98 due to hand and jaw injuries (3/10)
— Josh Koscheck pulls out of fight with Chris Wilson due to broken toe (4/7)
— Yushin Okami tweaks his knee, bails out of his fight with Dan Miller (4/30)
— Yet another knee injury takes James Irvin out of his fight against Drew McFedries (4/30)

And now this Houston Alexander thing. It’s enough to make you tear your damn hair out. Here’s what UFC 98′s tattered lineup currently looks like:

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)

Note: James Irvin will now be competing at UFC 102 (August 29th, Portland, Oregon) against Wilson Gouveia. Gouveia was originally slated to face Chael Sonnen, until Sonnen stepped in to replace Yushin Okami against Dan Miller at UFC 98. That’s what’s known in the fight game as "flippy-floppy."