(Still got it.)

Another super-fight, up in smoke. Chicago’s MMA informs us that War Machine‘s post-prison return fight against Gideon Ray has been scratched from the main event of Chicago Cagefighting Championship 4 (October 15th; Villa Park, IL). From a press-release sent out by the promoter:

Over the weekend Gideon informed Chicago Cagefighting that he had suffered an injury to his hand and would not be able to compete. To compound problems, War Machine suffered a cut to his chin during training and is not able to train for at least a week. When a suitable replacement for Gideon could not be found, we made a tough decision. With only three weeks to the event we were forced to cancel the entire bout.

(As it turns out, Belfort-brand bottled water mostly consists of hydrochloric acid. Good to know. Photo via LasVegasSun)

Due to an undisclosed injury, UFC middleweight Vitor Belfort will not be showing off his “powerful trunks” against Cung Le at UFC 139 (November 19th, San Jose). Dana White broke the news via Twitter, adding that Le’s new opponent will be another Brazilian legend — none other than Wanderlei Silva.

Silva vs. Le will serve as the co-main event of UFC 139, which will be headlined by the PRIDE-era fantasy match between Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua. Silva is coming off his 27-second knockout loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132, while Le will be making his Octagan debut 17 months after his rematch victory over Scott Smith.

(Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland)

Between the rotator cuff injury he fought through against Yushin Okami and the rib injury during his scrap with Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva is becoming a bizarro version of Tito Ortiz — meaning that he makes injury excuses after winning fights. His latest ouchie is enough to take the UFC middleweight champion out of action for the rest of the year. Silva’s manager Ed Soares informed MMA Fighting this weekend that the Spider’s bum shoulder will most likely keep him benched until the first quarter of 2012.

So here’s the good news: 1) Silva will not need surgery to treat it, and should be back to 100% after some rest and rehabilitation. 2) It’s not like Silva needed to fight again this year anyway. And I don’t mean just financially, although he’s clearly rich beyond measure. More importantly, there won’t be a legit challenger to his belt set up until at least January.

(Listen to the first thing that Diego says in this video. Is it just me, or is the dude starting to sound like Kevin from ‘The Office’?)

Less than three weeks before his scheduled meeting with Matt Hughes at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage (September 24th, Denver), Diego Sanchez was pulled from the event yesterday due to a broken hand suffered in training. Coming off back-to-back decision victories over Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann — both of which netted him Fight of the Night awards — Sanchez released a statement explaining just how bummed he is:

“I am heartbroken that I have to inform MMA fans that I cannot fight Matt Hughes at UFC 135 later this month. I have never physically felt more prepared to compete than I felt for this fight, which makes this even more painful for me. While I do not know right now when I will return, I want to assure all of the fans out there that I will be back in the Octagon as soon as I am 100-percent healthy.”

But in the distance, a savior appears…

Just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s news of Jack Shields’s passing: MMAFighting has confirmed that Jake Shields will still face Jake Ellenberger in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 (aka “Battle on the Bayou”), which takes place September 17th in New Orleans.

However, the event’s preliminary card has suffered a setback, as DaMarques Johnson and Mackens Semerzier have both withdrawn due to injuries. Johnson has already been replaced by returning TUF 11 vet Seth Baczynski. UFC Fight Night 25′s current lineup is after the jump…

(Shouldn’t have trusted him in the first place, Jorge.)

As first leaked by Mike Chiappetta, UFC middleweight Alessio Sakara has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 133 main card bout against Jorge Rivera due to a torn ACL. If you were just struck by an eerie sense of deja vu, here’s why…

Sakara and Rivera were originally paired up for UFC 118, but Rivera was forced to withdraw due to a broken arm. (Sakara was quickly matched up with replacement opponent Gerald Harris before bowing out himself due a knee injury.) The two fighters were re-scheduled for UFC 122 last November, but Sakara pulled out on the day of the fight after experiencing flu-like symptoms that were either weight-cut related, or tuna-related.

By Jason Moles

“We the people of CagePotato.com, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Bans, insure comments section Tranquility, provide for the common noob, promote the general Lack of Welfare, and attempt to secure the Blessings of Dana to ourselves and our readers, do ordain and establish this Comparison of fighters and fireworks for the Potato Nation.”

There are plenty of MMA fighters out there who love to bring the pyrotechnics to the cage, lighting up their opponents for the enjoyment of the fans and the pleasure of a paycheck. In honor of Independence Day weekend — and our new friends at Wild Turkey — here’s a list of actual 4th of July fireworks that remind us of some well-known scrappers. Celebrate safely, and please try not to lose any fingers.

Snap-n-Pops (aka bang snaps, snappers, or whip’n pops): Corey Hill, Jason MacDonald, Razak Al-Hassan, Tim Sylvia

Call ‘em what you want, these small novelty fireworks are perfect for youngsters. You throw them against a wall, floor, or sleeping grandparent, and they make a satisfying POP! Cool, huh? It’s hard not to think of a ‘Snap-n-Pop’ and not think of these guys, whose limbs unfortunately made the same noises in their past fights.

Roman Candles: Clay Guida

Excitement. Power. Flash. Seemingly unending performance. Fun. Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida is more than your average firework. Hey may not blow up any doors but rest assured he’s always going to be a crowd favorite. No one has ever had a Roman Candle war or watched a Guida fight and not had the time of their life. For every colorful ball that is emitted from the candle, Guida whips his hair back and shoots in for a takedown. Regardless of what happens, they both just keep going until the final bell. When messing around with either, be careful; someone usually ends up a bloody mess.

(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)

UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.

Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)

(Get used to this mug. Props: MMARatings.net)

Anthony Johnson was slated to welcome Nate Marquardt to the welterweight division at this month’s UFC Live event (June 26th in Pittsburgh), but due to a rotator cuff injury suffered in training, ‘Rumble’ won’t be able to make that date. Coming in on short-notice against Marquardt will be rising welterweight star Rick Story, who was in action just last weekend at UFC 130, picking up his sixth-consecutive win against Thiago Alves.

It’s a gamble for Story, but taking out a longtime middleweight contender like Marquardt would earn the Washington native even more respect in the crowded contender pool at 170. Will Story be able to use his wrestling to stifle Marquardt in the same way that Chael Sonnen did at UFC 109, or is Nate going to put the welterweight division on notice, starting with Rick?

The current lineup of UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story (aka ‘UFC on Versus 4′) is after the jump…

(Yeah, now that you mention it, you never see Mike Kyle and Newark mayor Cory Booker in the same room together…)

Due to a broken hand suffered in training, Strikeforce light-heavyweight contender Mike Kyle has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled match against Gegard Mousasi at ‘Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley‘ (April 9th, San Diego). The Kyle/Mousasi match would have likely produced the next challenger to Dan Henderson’s 205-pound title. Strikeforce is currently looking for a replacement opponent for Mousasi, who has scored wins over Jake O’Brien and Tatsuya Mizuno while competing in DREAM since losing the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal last April.

The news of Kyle’s injury withdrawal comes just a day after we learned that Jon Fitch — who trains alongside Kyle at American Kickboxing Academy — would not be making his rematch date with BJ Penn because of a shoulder injury. Speaking of which, Carlos Condit is down to step in against BJ Penn…as soon as the UFC asks him to.

(Come on, Jon. A real man takes “prohibited injections” and fights through that shit. Photo courtesy of Zimbio)

Bad news for fans of immediate rematches and mouthpiece-chewers. As first reported by MMAWeekly, Jon Fitch has withdrawn from his upcoming fight with BJ Penn at UFC 132 (July 2nd, Las Vegas) due to an undisclosed injury suffered in training; according to ESPN, it’s shoulder-related. A replacement opponent for Penn has not yet been named.

Fitch and Penn met in the main event of UFC 127 last month and fought to a majority draw, in a match that saw Penn take a slight edge in the first two rounds before getting clobbered in round three. UFC 132 is currently slated to feature the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

(Carlos Condit — huge John Cleese fan.)

After starching Dan Hardy at UFC 120, welterweight contender Carlos Condit was preparing to build on his momentum with another slugfest against Chris Lytle at UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch (February 26th; Sydney, Australia). Unfortunately, the Natural Born Killer has reportedly withdrawn thanks to a knee injury. Damn, it’s been a bad month for that sort of thing.

Though a replacement has yet to be formally announced, fightnewsaustralia.com is claiming that Brian Ebersole — a 44-15 American journeyman who currently competes and trains in Australia — will face Chris Lytle on the card. Ebersole has won his last seven fights, and holds victories over Matt Horwich, Nick Thompson, and Carlos Newton.

The current UFC 127 lineup is after the jump…

("I just want y’all to know that this shit is not awkward whatsoever.")

Rashad Evans‘s unexpected knee injury may be a career-altering nightmare scenario, but the former light-heavyweight champion is doing his best to put on a brave public face. After the bad news was dropped at UFC 126, Sugar posted the following on RashadEvans.tv:

"Hey my ppl! Last night most of u heard the news. If not here is the latest. I have 2 pull out of my Shogun fight because of injury. I severely sprained my MCL in practice. While in practice I got blindsided by another group of partners right into the side of my knee like football lineman style.. Since I’m hurt my teammate young phenom Bones Jones is gonna step in 4 me! I’m gonna recover & then see what happens next 4 me! Thank all u 4 the encouragement! I love my supports & my haters! Go get that belt brudda Jones!"

(Sable is furiously taking notes. Props: ESPN the Magazinee)

In a related story, Cain Velasquez had shoulder surgery yesterday to repair the torn rotator cuff that he sustained in his fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October. (Junior Dos Santos remains skeptical.) The surgery was a success, and Velasquez will be ready to return to action in 6-8 months.

(Props: caposa)

In case you missed it, all fighters made weight for tomorrow’s UFC 120 event; the numbers are after the jump. Remember to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET for our tape-delayed "live"-blog of the Spike TV broadcast.

One notable absence from today’s weigh-ins was light-heavyweight Steve Cantwell, who ripped a knee ligament in training yesterday and was forced to withdraw from his fight. The general consensus on this week’s installment of The Bum Rush Radio Show was that Cantwell — on a two-fight losing skid and slated to face scary Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov — was in serious danger of getting fired after Saturday. So maybe this is for the best…

(When Romero says his grill has been "iced out" for the last couple months, he means that literally. PicProps: MMA Bay)

For a pro fighter, a lot of things seem atypical about Ricardo Romero. First off, as he tells Old Dad in an interview with MMA Fighting on Monday, Romero’s MMA career still plays second fiddle to his day job as an energy derivatives broker on Wall Street. Secondly, he admits he only started training to fight as a way to get over the depression of breaking up with his baby mama. Lastly, and most of interest to us here at the Potato, Romero managed to overcome a laundry list of injuries suffered during his UFC debut in July to defeat Seth Petruzelli by second-round arm bar.

Romero pretty much got the tar beat out of him for the first five-plus minutes of his bout against Petruzelli. Despite a 10-1 record compiled fighting on New Jersey’s independent scene – including victories over some known names like the UFC’s James McSweeney as well as TUF washouts Constantinos Phillippou and Karen Grigoryan  – Romero looked completely unprepared for UFC action. He was “Octagon jitters” personified and his honesty on that subject is something else that is refreshing about the former Rutgers wrestler.

(Matt Wiman’s face-off against Shane Nelson gets heated before UFC 107. Poor, sweet Natasha. She has no idea what’s going on. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Just one day after his opponent Mac Danzig fell off the card, UFC Fight Night 22 co-headliner Matt Wiman has also withdrawn from the event due to a broken arm suffered in training. The Curse of Fight Night 22 has already claimed Alan Belcher (detached retina), as well as Nick Catone (shoulder and back) and Aaron Simpson (staph). Austin-area police are currently rounding up local witches and voodoo priestesses for questioning.

Still, one man’s misfortune is another’s unbelievable opportunity. Stepping in for Wiman against Efrain Escudero will be undefeated Brazilian prospect Charles "do Bronx" Oliveira, who made his UFC debut in dramatic fashion earlier this month at Jones vs. Matyushenko, when he tapped Darren Elkins via armbar in just 41 seconds; the performance scored him the event’s Submission of the Night bonus. Another big win just a month-and-a-half later could put Oliveira on the lightweight map. Will he rise to the occasion?

(Poor vegan son-of-a-bitch can’t catch a break. Photo courtesy of MMABay)

Due to a chest injury suffered in training, TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig has withdrawn from his co-headlining rematch against Matt Wiman at UFC Fight Night 22 (September 15th, Austin). Danzig and Wiman previously met at UFC 115 in June, with Danzig losing by a controversial first-round technical decision; the referee stopped the fight due to a guillotine choke despite the fact that Danzig didn’t tap and wasn’t out, leading to an unfortunate "WTFIYP?" moment in the cage. It was Danzig’s fourth loss in his last five fights, and he’ll now have to wait a little longer to redeem himself.

Stepping up against Wiman at the Austin event will be TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero, who’s coming off his unanimous decision victory over Dan Lauzon at UFC 114, and was originally supposed to face John Gunderson on the prelims. Now, Gunderson is expected to face returning UFC vet Yves Edwards (38-16-1, 6-4 UFC), who hasn’t competed in the Octagon since his TKO loss to Joe Stevenson at UFC 61. Since then, he’s made appearances in Bodog Fight, EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Shine Fights, and most recently scored a decision over Luis Palomino at last week’s Bellator event.

According to Fighters Only, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be unable to face Frank Mir in their headlining rematch at UFC 119 (September 25th, Indianapolis), due to an injury that will require surgery. Which sucks for him, but on the bright side, you didn’t really care about that fight anyway. Stepping in for Big Nog will be Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, who has been surging back to relevance with back-to-back stoppage victories over Anthony Perosh and Pat Barry. It’s a huge opportunity for Cro Cop, who would finally become a legitimate heavyweight contender in the UFC with a win over the former champion. Mir hasn’t competed since his TKO loss to Shane Carwin at UFC 111, which followed his quick spanking of Cheick Kongo last December.

Though Nogueira had to undergo knee surgery in 2009, his latest injury is possibly hip-related. Big Nog has also battled staph infections in recent years, which delayed his meeting with Cain Velasquez, and supposedly affected his first performance against Frank Mir at UFC 92. After suffering the only two stoppage losses of his career in his last three fights, it seems that Nogueira has finally learned his lesson about fighting hurt. But after so many tough battles, injuries, and illnesses, will his body ever fully recover?

(Photo courtesy of allelbows)

After pulling off his miracle win against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, Anderson Silva mentioned to Joe Rogan that he had hurt his ribs coming into the fight. Could that have played a factor in the extended beating that he endured before snatching that Hail Mary triangle-choke submission? Silva’s manager Ed Soares shared details to FightHype (via BloodyElbow):

"It was really close because the doctors didn’t want him to fight. He hurt his rib last Friday in sparring. He hurt it, but he didn’t think it was hurt that bad and then Sunday morning, I had about 13 missed calls in a matter of 25 minutes. They were all from Anderson and he was calling me to tell me he was in pain. He couldn’t breathe. I took him to the hospital and they X-Rayed each rib and they noticed that it was a bit swollen, but there was no fracture. They said it was bruised ribs, but the way he reacted when they touched it and how tender they were, they said it was in the muscle as well as the bruise. I’m not a doctor, but this is just what they told us. They prescribed some Ibuprofen 800 for him because it was so close to the fight, they couldn’t do any Vicodin.

(Sakara and Etim, the latest victims of the UFC’s brand-new curse.)

After losing Phil Baroni and Jorge Rivera due to injuries, UFC 118 (August 28, Boston) is inching towards "cursed" status with another pair of late withdrawals that have completely re-arranged the Spike TV prelim broadcast. First off, Alessio Sakara has been forced out of his fight against Gerald Harris due to a knee injury. Harris, who was originally a replacement for Rivera, will now face the returning Joe Vedepo, who has won four straight fights by stoppage outside of the UFC since being released in April 2009. Unfortunately, the fight is no longer slated for the Spike broadcast, meaning that Harris will need another dramatic stoppage to get some TV time. At this point, it hasn’t been confirmed which fight will move up to the prelim broadcast in its place.

The injury fairy also paid a visit to Terry Etim, who bows out of his UFC 118 fight against Joe Lauzon due to a broken rib. Lauzon will instead meet — get this — Gabe "Godzilla" Ruediger, the TUF 5 contestant who became a national punchline due to his love of colonics and ice cream cake, and was eventually dismissed from the show for not making weight. More recently, Ruediger has built up a six-fight win streak competing in California, picked up the Tachi Palace Fights lightweight title, and has helped turn Paris Hilton into a killing machine.

We’ll let you know as soon as UFC 118′s lineup is finalized.

("That’s it, go to sleeeeeeep." Alan Belcher and his little friend Johnny gang up on Patrick Cote at UFC 113. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

UFC middleweight contender (and unapologetic baby-choker) Alan Belcher confirmed yesterday that he won’t be able to headline UFC Fight Night 22 against Demian Maia, due to a detached retina. As he wrote:

While I was in brazil I started losing my vision in my right eye. I saw a dr that told me to go back to u.s. immediately. My friend/surgeon from biloxi got me an emergency surgery scheduled in alabama now just trying to recover. No contact for 6 weeks. Sorry to my trainers. Sorry to ufc & demian Maia, I know he has been training specifically for me. Sorry to my fans as well. As long as I get released from dr I will try to make ufn 22 to see my fans and watch the fights

In response, Demian Maia tweeted: "I dont know who will be my oponent. I think I still in the UFN 22 main event, but Im not sure. Ill let you guys know…"

In other words, Chris Leben should probably start warming up. The current lineup of UFN 22 (September 15th, Austin) is after the jump.

(Remember, bend at the *knees* when you’re beating the crap out of Keith Jardine.)

Bad news for Team Brazil at UFC 117: Due to a back injury suffered in training, Thiago Silva has been forced to withdraw from his preliminary card matchup with Tim Boetsch. Silva had previously injured his back while preparing for his UFC 108 main event against Rashad Evans. After losing that fight by decision, the American Top Team light-heavyweight began a physical therapy program, but apparently it wasn’t enough to protect him from re-injury; no word yet on how long he could be sidelined. Stepping in to face Boetsch on 11 days notice is UFC newcomer Todd "Bulldog" Brown, who has compiled an 11-1 record in midwestern promotions. Boetsch is returning to the UFC after being cut last March, then winning three consecutive fights in smaller promotions.

Speaking of luckless s.o.b.’s, Phil Baroni is out of his UFC 118 fight with John Salter due to a collarbone injury. The fight was to mark Baroni’s return to middleweight after dropping two straight at welterweight, including a decision against Amir Sadollah at UFC 106. Baroni, who tends to get emotional on his Twitter account even in the best of times, had this to say: "I cant take it anymore. Im freaking out. anxiety im shot. beaten." Stay strong, NYBA…

(Dunham and Escudero at UFC Fight Night 20. Tickets to the gun show are free, but nobody leaves without paying. Photo courtesy of washingtonpost.com)

Returning from a decision loss to Frank Edgar at UFC 98 and a year of injuries, Sean Sherk will attempt to return to the Octagon (fingers crossed) at UFC 119 (September 25th, Indianapolis), where he’ll face undefeated rising star Evan Dunham. With a 4-0 record in the Octagon and big wins this year over Tyson Griffin and Efrain Escudero, Dunham may finally experience what it’s like to be a favorite against the former UFC lightweight champ. To be honest, Sherk isn’t much of a step up for Dunham, who soundly defeated Griffin last month, but it’s another solid opportunity for the 28-year-old Xtreme Couture product to build his name.

Sherk was supposed to return to action last October at UFC 104 against Gleison Tibau, but had to pull out due to a shoulder injury. He was rescheduled for a UFC 108 meeting against Jim Miller, but again withdrew after suffering a cut over his eye in training. In March, Sherk was slated to face Clay Guida at UFC on Versus 1. You can probably guess how that turned out.

Despite earlier reports, Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez are not slated to meet at UFC 119. A headliner for the event is yet to be determined, though a Quinton Jackson/Antonio Rogerio Nogueira match is still possible for the main card. Other reported fights include CB Dollaway vs. Joe Doerksen, Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens, and Chris Lytle vs. TBA. 

(By the way, KJ Noons isn’t on this card either. But at least we still have "an MMA superstar" [not really] against "a legend at his craft" [of choking people for too long].)
 
Just when they convinced Bobby Lashley to face an opponent who wasn’t a total joke or a champion, the unthinkable has happened — the former pro-wrestling star has been forced to pull out of his scheduled match against Ron Sparks due to a knee injury. The fight was to take place at Strikeforce’s increasingly bare-looking Los Angeles show (Wednesday, June 16th, Nokia Theatre), which is headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Renato Sobral in a 195-pound catchweight bout, and will also feature Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis, Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Prangley, and (possibly) Shane Del Rosario vs. Lolohea Mahe.

In other words, the card is just slightly more impressive than Strikeforce’s "Challengers" series offerings, and won’t do much to improve their plummeting ratings on Showtime. Luckily, Strikeforce has its next show ten days later with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum in the headlining spot and Cris Cyborg in the co-main; a relatively needless rematch between Cung Le and Scott Smith is also likely.

 
(Sean Sherk groggily gets back to his feet as a spectator with tiny arms and a vague resemblance to Bruce Campbell yawns in disbelief.)

There are times when every fighter comes face to face with the end of the road. For Sean Sherk, withdrawing from three consecutive fights may be one of these times. As first reported by FiveOuncesofPain, the Muscle Shark has pulled out of his scheduled matchup with Clay Guida at the "UFC on Versus" event (March 21st; Broomfield, Colorado) due to lingering injuries. Sherk hasn’t competed since his unanimous decision loss to Frankie Edgar at UFC 98 in May. Since then, Sherk has pulled out of a fight against Gleison Tibau in October (shoulder injury), and was struck down by the UFC 108 curse (cut over right eye) after being penciled in to face Jim Miller.

Filling in for Sherk against Clay Guida will likely be Shannon Gugerty (12-4, 2-2 UFC), who was most recently choked out by Terry Etim at UFC 105, but has earned first-round submissions over Dale Hartt and Matt Grice during his stint in the Octagon.

Previously: UFC’s Most Cursed Fighter Will Try to Return in March Against Alessio Sakara

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

About two weeks before Thiago Silva‘s UFC 108 showdown with Rashad Evans, rumors began popping up that Silva had suffered an ankle injury in training, and the UFC was paying him extra money to stay on the cursed card and save the main event. Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, immediately set the story straight with MMA Junkie, saying "That report is completely false. Thiago is 100 percent and he’s busy preparing for this fight. Not only has the UFC not paid any extra money for Thiago to fight through an injury, but to the contrary, in my 10 years of dealing with the UFC, (matchmaker) Joe Silva and the staff have always said it’s better to pull out of a fight if you’re hurt rather than lose a fight because you’re injured."

But now that Silva lost his fight, Davis has come back to say that "100 percent" might have been overstating the case:

(Koscheck’s hair used to be straight before that punch. Nah, just messin’ with you guys. Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges/UFC)

Due to an undisclosed injury, Josh Koscheck has pulled out of his scheduled rematch with Paulo Thiago at UFC 109 (February 6th, Las Vegas). Koscheck confirmed the news on Twitter, writing "I will be good to go back to training in a couple weeks I hope!!…It’s all good & I’ll get my body rested & back to the top real soon." Koscheck and Thiago previously met at UFC 95 in February, where Thiago pulled off a shock upset via first-round KO. Since then, the Brazilian supercop has dropped a decision to Jon Fitch and won a decision over Jacob Volkmann.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long for a replacement opponent. According to MMA Fighting, Koscheck’s teammate Mike Swick has already stepped up to face Thiago. Swick is coming off his unanimous decision loss to Dan Hardy, which was his first defeat at welterweight. This will be the third American Kickboxing Academy fighter that Thiago will throw down with. So, the AKA guys know him well, but he knows them too, and they know he knows, dig? UFC 109′s lineup is after the jump. Let’s hope this isn’t the beginning of another curse…

Due to a fractured ankle, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been forced to withdraw from his co-headlining bout against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 (February 6, Las Vegas). Shortly after the news broke, Vera posted (then quickly removed) the following message on his Twitter page: "just found out I’m firing Jon Bones Jones on March 21st in Denver Colorado. hope u heard it here first!!!!"

We can only assume that Vera meant "fighting Jon Bones Jones," and that he won’t be flying out to Denver to terminate Jones from his contract, Clooney-style. And the March 21st date may also be a misprint: MMA Junkie and MMA Weekly both report that the yet-unsigned fight is actually slated for March 31st, and will headline an Ultimate Fight Night card just four days after UFC 111 (March 27, Newark). The 3/31 Fight Night show will lead directly into the premiere of TUF 11.

With Vera losing a close decision to Randy Couture at UFC 105, and Jones coming off his unfortunate DQ loss against Matt Hamill earlier this month at the TUF 10 Finale, both men will come into this fight with a lot to prove. Jones certainly has the wrestling advantage — as well as the spinning-elbow advantage — but will Vera’s rangy kickboxing cause problems for young Bones?

(When the going gets tough, the tough go on a massive Pedialyte bender. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

For a card that was already struggling to book big fights in the wake of a heavyweight-targeting staph-outbreak, this is the last thing that UFC 108 needed. The January 2nd show has been struck down yet again, as Carlos Condit has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Paul Daley due to a hand injury suffered in training. The Condit/Daley scrap was slated to be UFC 108′s co-headliner. As things stand now, the only fights locked down for the main card are Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva, Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout, and Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller — and the event is less than a month away. Not exactly worthy of "New Year’s" card status, if you ask us. Can we move this one to Arbor Day?

As you can imagine, Paul Daley is upset, and when Paul gets upset he gets personal. "Condit is a big pussy IMO, I have inside information on that dude," Daley wrote on the Underground Forum. But after venting a bit, Semtex was in solution-mode: "It’s all good as long as I fight…Koscheck is a tough motherfucker, but I accept the challenge. Hazelett has sick subs, and is dangerous, but I accept that fight too. Any top level fighter in 170lbs with a winning record. Joe [Silva] make it happen.”

Unfortunately, Josh Koscheck is already scheduled to take on Paulo Thiago in February — but then again, you don’t fight 12 times a year unless you can fill every gap in every card. Out of curiosity, how bad do things have to get before the UFC just says "eff it" and cancels an event?