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They Say Training Is Always The Toughest Part of Fighting
This is starting to become an all too real part of the fight game. Fighters train their hearts out for months on end to prepare for a fight. Once you hit a certain level, every bout becomes the “biggest fight of your life,” and for many UFC fighters today, this is true.
With the sport always evolving, every fighter has to get a leg up on their competition in some way to make sure they got into the fight 100% ready. However, with this new mentality, it’s leaving many of the top draws on the shelf with some serious injuries.
In no way am I down playing the impact of injuries in the sport, it’s a very common instance. One little misstep, wrong move and misplacement of a hand pad and you can get serious injured, however, when a group of fighters get hurt in such a short time period, you have to believe it’s due to their intense training schedules.
Let’s take a look at some recent injuries and their impact on the UFC landscape:
Georges St. Pierre-The reigning UFC welterweight champ suffered a serious injury months back when he tore his ACL. As in any sport, an ACL tear can sideline an athlete for some time, as GSP was no different. GSP is shelved till November 2012, causing the welterweight title picture to get a little murky.
Michael Bisping-Easily the biggest name from across the pond, The Count is a vital player in the UFC. After a brutal whooping of Jason Miller, and a controversial loss to Chael Sonnen, Bisping was slated to meet the surging Tim Botesch. However, Bisping
On The Verge Of A Title Shot, An Injury Was The Last Thing Michael Bisping Wanted.
sustained an injury while training, and is expected to miss a couple of months of action.
Brian Stann-When the UFC announced the signing of Hector Lombard, fans and bloggers alike went nuts over the chance of a Stann/Lombard slug fest. And we got it. That was until Stann suffered a training related incident, sidlining him and taking him out of his headlining bout with Lombard for the UFC on Fox 4 card.
Rampage Jackson-It’s no secret that the UFC and Rampage are not on good terms. Jackson said he had one fight left with the UFC, then he was leaving. He was set-up to duke it out with fellow PRIDE stand-out, Shogun Rua. Reports later surfaced that Rampage needed knee surgery, thus making this fight a figment of our imagination.
Dominick Cruz-The bantamweight champ was staring alongside rival Urijah Faber on this season of The Ultimate Fighter which would end in a third and final showdown between the two. However, Cruz suffered an ACL injury during the show, forcing him out of the fight leaving Faber and top-prospect Renan Barao to fight for the interim belt.
Vitor Belfort-Similar to Cruz, Belfort was coaching against rival Wanderlei Silva for The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil when he broke his hand. Belfort was forced out of his rematch with The Axe Murderer, leaving Rich Franklin to take his place.
Jose Aldo-Slated to meet Erik Koch, Aldo suffered an injury that was not made public. Their bout, scheduled for UFC 149, was replaced by Faber vs Barao.