(Replace the number ’162′ with ’163′, and this promo is still pretty damn relevant. / Props: TheSuperactiontv)

Anthony Pettis‘s divisional line-cutting has apparently angered the vengeful MMA Gods, who have struck down the crowd-pleasing striker with a knee injury. UFC president Dana White just confirmed the bad news, saying that Pettis is officially out of his scheduled featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo, which was slated to go down at UFC 163, August 3rd at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Pettis described the injury as a “small tear in my meniscus,” but didn’t give a specific timetable on his return.

So that’s the bad news. The good news is, Pettis has already been replaced by a title-challenger who’s actually earned a crack at the 145-pound belt: Chan Sung Jung, better known to us Westerners as “The Korean Zombie.” Jung was originally scheduled to face Ricardo Lamas in a likely #1 contender bout at UFC 162 next month, but has now been fast-tracked to a title fight in order to rescue the UFC 163 main event.

“TKZ” is 3-0 in the UFC, with incredible stoppage victories against Leonard Garcia (via twister submission), Mark Hominick (via seven-second KO), and Dustin Poirier (via d’arce choke, in a Fight of the Year candidate last May).

So who’s your pick in Aldo vs. Zombie? And is this a more interesting matchup to you than Aldo vs. Pettis?

(Do not read this article while operating heavy machinery. /Photo via Getty Images)

After being inactive for all of 2012 due to a torn ACL, Gegard Mousasi began creeping back to relevance this year, choking out Mike Kyle for Strikeforce in January, then winning a lopsided 15-minute sparring session against Ilir Latifi for his UFC debut in April. For a moment, it seemed like Sweet Sassy was poised to make an impact in the UFC light-heavyweight division. Well, not so much. A new knee injury will sideline Mousasi until the end of the year, and his days at 205 might be behind him for good.

Mousasi confirmed with MMAJunkie.com Radio last week that he’s currently recovering from a surgery to correct a second tear of the same ACL, an injury which he blamed on training too hard. He doesn’t expect to return to competition until November or December — not because the rehab will take that long, but because he plans to do “a lot of partying” this year.

“I’m planning on the recovery, but I’m planning to enjoy life a little bit,” Mousasi said. “In the past, I’ve always been training, always about the sport. Once you have this injury, you discover other stuff. I plan on having a good time.”

As for his postponed fight against Alexander Gustafsson? Mousasi’s not too concerned about it. He already hinted last month that he might be dropping back down to 185 pounds — the weight-class in which he first rose to prominence — and further explained his motivations like this:

The UFC’s most promising (and most eerily emotionless) welterweight prospect has just experienced an important rite of passage — his first injury withdrawal. As confirmed by UFC officials, Icelandic grappling phenom Gunnar Nelson will be unable to meet Mike Pyle at UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2, scheduled for May 25th in Las Vegas. According to Gunnar’s father/manager Haraldur Nelson, it’s a knee injury that will require surgery. A timetable for his return hasn’t been announced.

Injuries have actually plagued both of Nelson’s previous UFC fights. His first win in the Octagon came against DaMarques Johnson, who was replacing the injured Pascal Krauss. Nelson’s second win came against Jorge Santiago, who was replacing the injured Justin Edwards. And now, the UFC Injury Demon has gone from teasing Nelson to actually taking a chunk out of his ass, so to speak.

Replacing Nelson against Pyle at UFC 160 will be Rick Story, who most recently TKO’d Strikeforce/KOTC standout Quinn Mulhern at UFC 158 last month. Pyle is coming off a superb 2012 during which he scored first-round KO/TKOs of Ricardo Funch, Josh Neer, and James Head. Pyle vs. Story is expected to be on the FX portion of the 5/25 card.

(Clementi tangles with Melvin Guillard at UFC 79, a fight that concluded with an infamous rear-naked teabagging. Photo via CombatLifestyle.com)

After a 13-year, 68-fight professional MMA career, lightweight grappling specialist Rich “No Love” Clementi announced on Monday that he has retired from competition. Best known for his ten-fight stint in the UFC and appearance on TUF 4, Clementi most recently competed in Bellator’s Season 7 Lightweight Tournament, where he lost a toe-hold war to Marcin Held in the semis last Friday. And according to this Sherdog report, the aftermath of Clementi’s loss to Held was the biggest motivating factor in his decision to walk away from the sport:

Clementi told Sherdog.com that his left ankle had been injured for about two years before Held cranked on it in both the first and second rounds, with the final submission attempt also damaging his knee. Clementi recently underwent an MRI and says he will need to undergo surgery to repair the damage.

“My tendons are ripped on the outside of my foot, and because they have been stretched for so long, my socket is pitted and will have to be filled and repaired, as well,” Clementi told Sherdog. “I didn’t know, but I also found out I had ACL failure on the knee I had surgery on a few years back. [I will have a] 12- to 14-month recovery.”

(In a related story, Roy Nelson was recently diagnosed with advanced dickdo disease.)

Well, we saw this one coming a mile away. After suffering a “minor knee injury” back in September, Shane Carwin has now pulled out of his scheduled fight against Roy Nelson at the TUF 16 Finale on December 15th, due to a knee injury that may or may not be related to the last one. UFC president Dana White confirmed the bad news last night, and said that the promotion is looking for a new opponent for Nelson.

It’s a terrible setback for Carwin, who hasn’t competed snce June 2011 due to a series of neck and back surgeries, and was already forced to drop out of a fight with Nelson at UFC 125. Carwin hasn’t won a fight since his knockout of Frank Mir in March 2010, and at age 37, his competitive days are running out. There’s no word yet on the severity of Shane’s injury, or when he might return to action.

And by the way, this means that five of the last seven U.S. seasons of TUF — 10, 11, 13, 15, and now 16 — as well as one of the two international seasons (TUF Brazil), have ended with the coaches’ fight being canceled or delayed. Spooky. We’ll let you know when Roy Nelson picks up his replacement opponent. Our suggestion: How about Pat Barry, who’s already booked on the card against Shane Del Rosario?

And hey, speaking of UFC stars who have to pull out of fights next month due to knee injuries…

Some of you may have heard of a lil’ MMA fight that’s set to take place next month between the UFC’s interim welterweight champion and some French joker named Georges St. Pierre. GSP has been out of action since successfully defending his belt against Jake Shields in April of 2011 due to multiple knee injuries. Finally, on November 17th, the longtime champ is scheduled to make his return at UFC 154 after undergoing ACL reconstruction surgery and taking the necessary months to recover. In case Carlos Condit is thinking about going after St. Pierre’s newly-recuperated knee, “Rush” has a simple message for his opponent.

“I hope that Condit focuses on targeting my knee. Its not a weak link anymore,” he says in the above UFC video.

“There’s nothing that I can’t do now that I wasn’t able to do. I will leave with the belt.”

(Who knew keeping your back against the cage was effective defense? This kept Vitor’s knee from ending up like Willis McGahee. Pic Props:Ryan Kightlinger)

By Jason Moles

Yesterday on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, your all too friendly, neighborhood reporter-humping, cage fighter made an appearance. And, as per usual, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson left the MMA world with a lot to talk about after withdrawing from UFC 153 and using TRT to trading verbal jabs and “F*ck you!”‘s with former TUF 10 contestant, Matt Mitrione. What was more notable from the interview was Jackson’s criticism of light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his dirty, dirty knee kicks.

Vitor took the fight on short notice, and this is how you respect him, by kicking his knee backwards and stuff like that? He’s supposed to be a man of God. You can injure somebody, you can sever their career. You can mess people up for life kicking their knee back like that and he does it repeatedly, over and over. To me that has no honor. I take a lot of honor in fighting. He has no honor.

The former Pride and UFC champion went on to question why the athletic commission even allow “stuff like that” to be legal, arguing that if Jones keeps fighting dirty like this, he’ll put everyone on the shelf and won’t have anyone left to fight. As it would turn out, he’s not alone. TheScore.com’s Adam Martin took to twitter to voice his displeasure of the use of linear kicks to the knee as well and reminded his followers that the CSAC already bans the technique.

(You see this move, right here? PUSSY MAGNET.) 

There’s been a lot of talk regarding Jon Jones, Dan Henderson, and GOATS around here lately, but if any of the rumors circulating Twitter right now have any truth to them, we might just have to put that discussion on hold for a while. And although tweets from random sources don’t constitute truth, the sheer volume of them that have been sent out claiming that Henderson has suffered a knee injury in training are making us feel sick to our stomachs nonetheless. Take a look for yourselves:

Kenny Florian ?@kennyflorian
Hearing that we may have some disappointed @UFC fans soon due to some unfortunate circumstances for an upcoming card

Luke Thomas ?@SBNLukeThomas
@KCBanditMMA @jamiekilstein if what I’m hearing is correct, it’s so much worse than what is even being rumored on Twitter.

 Luke Thomas ?@SBNLukeThomas
@Jdiddy381 @KCBanditMMA @jamiekilstein again, I’m not talking about Hendo’s health when I say the matter is ‘worse’. Relax, people.

Jeremy Botter ?@jeremybotter
If what I’m hearing is correct, UFC 151 may be in desperate need of a main event. And that sucks.

Matt Lindland ?@mattlindland
Rumor? @MattHawryluk94: @tarecfighter rumor is Hendo is out with a knee injury, please tell me it is not true!

FrontRowBrian FrontRowBrian ?@FrontRowBrian
Rumor going around Hendo was injured by Thierry Sokoudjou at some point in this camp. Appears he’ll press on.. if he has to crawl to cage. 
Someone described the brace Hendo is wearing as a “Stone Cold Steve Austin brace”.

Again, we’re not writing this without first understanding the power of rumor, but considering some of the sources (Kenny Florian, Luke Thomas), we might be looking at either a severely hampered Hendo come next Saturday, or no Hendo at all. And who do you think the UFC would replace him with on such short notice? Surely not this guy, right? Or are all the pieces of our conspiracy puzzle falling into place exactly according to plan? MWAHAHAHAHA!!

(Sources indicate that Silva’s knee buckled during an intense set of supermodel-lunges.)

According to Tatame, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has confirmed that he suffered a minor knee injury in training, about six weeks out from his rematch with arch-rival Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 (July 7th, Las Vegas). Silva later tweeted that his knee is feeling fine and it won’t stop him from settling his obligation with Sonnen.

Silva’s injury brings a discomforting sense of deja vu. After Chael inexplicably won the first four-and-a-half rounds from Silva during their first meeting in August 2010, Silva’s manager Ed Soares blamed his lackluster performance on a recent rib injury. Silva vs. Sonnen 2 originally held such promise for the champ; if Silva was 100% healthy and fighting in front of his countrymen, Sonnen was a dead man walking, guaranteed. Then the fight was moved, and this knee thing happened. Will we be looking at another tough five-round grind for the Spider?

(The truth is, Ronda walked into the gym and Dominick’s knees buckled on their own. / Photo via @RondaRousey)

In light of the sly gamesmanship in that recent Urijah Faber video, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz went on MMAFighting’s The MMA (After) Hour to explain how his knee injury came about, and that it wasn’t the result of being beat up by a girl. Here’s what he had to say, as transcribed by MMAMania:

“I was in training camp, I had just gotten done with TUF, and I usually get done about 11. I got to practice at 11:30 and I was sparring that day with kickboxing and takedowns and a guy got behind me in a scramble and he went for a trip, the trip, his hips went in on my knee and it just buckled my knee right then and there. I sat out the rest of the round, threw some ice on my knee, it was pretty painful. I was just kind of hoping for the best to be honest. I was hoping and praying that it was nothing crazy because it was a very, very loud pop. I kind of went into denial mode for the rest of that day saying ‘Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ So I took some ibuprofen and that night I went in to get my normal workout in and I go to move around and get my shadowboxing going to warm up and me knee just pops right out. And I just knew right then and there that I needed to go get an MRI and get this checked out because me knee wasn’t stable and it kind of felt like I was walking on ice. I went in and got an MRI that day and got the bad results, the bad news…

Just to shut down some rumors that Faber thinks is funny to start and makes jokes about an Olympic bronze medalist and her taking out my knees. To me it’s not really funny, it’s just another way to know, for the world to know why me and Faber don’t get along. I wasn’t training with her at all. I brought her in to help my team on TUF…

(“Do you mind if I test this thing out? First, get into a fetal position on the ground…” / Photo via @GeorgesStPierre)

After blowing out the ACL of his right knee in training and withdrawing from his scheduled title defense against Nick Diaz, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre successfully underwent surgery yesterday in Los Angeles. As he tweeted: “Dr. ElAttrache says my surgery (ACL patellar tendon autograft) was huge success! Ligament very strong. Tks for support!”

St. Pierre wrote last week that he expects to make a full recovery from the surgery in six to nine months. We don’t have an e.t.a. on exactly when he might return to face the winner of Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit, but after two knee injuries and more than a year on the sidelines, it could turn out to be the toughest fight of St. Pierre’s career.

After the jump, more details about GSP’s knee injury from a conference call St. Pierre held last week with his doctor, Sebastien Simard:

(“…and once I find that son-of-a-bitch who embalmed me, there’s gonna be hell to pay.” Image courtesy of ESPN)

Due to a torn MCL suffered in training, Ultimate Fighter 11 winner Court McGee has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled middleweight bout against Canadian prospect Jesse Bongfeldt at UFC 131: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos. McGee has been inactive since his submission victory over Ryan Jensen last October, and his current timetable for return is uncertain. Bongfeldt will likely remain on the Vancouver card against a replacement opponent. Update, 4:01 p.m. ET: Bongfeldt will now be facing Chris Weidman, the undefeated Serra-Longo Fight Team product (and former All-American wrestler) who scored a unanimous decision over Alessio Sakara in his Octagon debut last month at “Sanchez vs. Kampmann.”

According to reports, McGee injured his knee while training with the Cesar Gracie team, helping Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Gilbert Melendez prepare for their upcoming fights. (Damn it, why couldn’t it have been Chael?) So remember kids, EFX Performance bracelets may improve your balance and stamina, but they don’t make you impervious to knee injury…

(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…

(Damn, as if the constipation wasn’t bad enough…)

Urijah Faber‘s scheduled bantamweight debut against Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 50 (August 18th, Las Vegas) has been canceled, due to a knee injury that Faber suffered in training on Monday. The California Kid confirmed the bad news via Twitter earlier today, and told Heavy: "Somebody was going to take me down during training. They swept me and I heard a loud pop. They said it would be six weeks before I could train again, but it may heal even faster."

According to MMAJunkie, a replacement will not be found for Mizugaki. Tough break, but on the bright side, it’s a miracle that Faber can even walk at all at this point. WEC 50 will be headlined by the bantamweight title (re-)match between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez.