It’s been a substantial break between UFC events. But on Sunday, UFC 133 will go down at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia. However, the card we will see on Sunday is barely recognisable from the one that was initially prepared.
From the main event, all the way down to the event’s first non-aired prelim, there have been changes.
Over half of the total of eleven bouts on the card have undergone enforced changes, with many of those suffering multiple changes.
To show the magnitude of disruption this card has suffered, let’s run down the changes.
Starting at the top, the main event was originally intended to be a light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans.
Jones pulled out of the bout in order to get his hand operated only to reschedule the surgery shortly thereafter. He will now defend his title next month against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135.
Not wanting to wait any longer for a fight, Evans took a fight with the undefeated Phil Davis.
Davis suffered suffer a knee injury, a month from the show’s date and a mad scramble to find a replacement ensued.
In an unlikely outcome, Tito Ortiz – riding high off a submission win over Ryan Bader at last month’s UFC 132 – accepted the call.
Initial reports stated that UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo was to defend his title against Chad Mendes on this card as well. Aldo pulled out early though and Mendes will now meet Rani Yahya.
Moving one step lower on the card, the initial co-main event of Rich Franklin versus Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was nixed when Nogueira suffered an injury and the UFC could not find a suitable replacement for Franklin.
This brought the total bouts on the card from twelve to eleven.
Jorge Rivera will now meet Constantinos Philippou on the main card, after his bout with Alessio Sakara fell through.
Amazingly this was the third time the UFC had tried to put together that bout, with it falling through on both UFC 118 and UFC 122. It’s clear the fighting gods do not approve of that match-up.
Philippou’s decision to take the fight with Rivera left his original opponent Rafael Natal to take on UFC debutant and former The Ultimate Fighter contestant, Paul Bradley on short notice.
Matt Hamill replaces an injured Vladimir Matyushenko against Alexander Gustaffson while Ivan Menjivar fills in for Michael McDonald who was pulled early from the card to face Chris Cariaso at UFC 130.
That brings the casualty list to two title fights, and nine possible fights.
Back in June, in an interview with The Roar, Australian fighter, George Sotiropoulos denied that the UFC was suffering an injury crisis.
“(It’s) the nature of the fight game. An injury crisis is a little harsh. It’s like a media screaming outrage. It’s really not a crisis. There is an event on every month and sometimes there are two or three events every month.”
“With that being the case, obviously fighters are going to have to be active and because they’re so active, these things happen. It’s such a multi-faceted sport where we are grappling, kicking, wrestling, punching … our bodies are being worked to the limit. That’s the reason why there are injuries. But saying there are stacks of injuries is just stupid.”
Sotiropolous’s comments are valid but events that are ravaged like UFC 133 make it hard for people to not start screaming “crisis”.
Regardless, it’s a testament to the UFC and its roster that even with these changes, they are still able to put out an event packed with interest.
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