UFC 203 Injuries and Replacements: What Could Have Been
UFC 203 has had several fights fizzle or change prior to tonight’s event. Here’s a look at what could have been if the injury bug did not bite.
Injuries claimed two fights, visa issues claimed two others, and two more were scrapped due to an illness and a freak injury on the week of UFC 203.
Thankfully, the great main event between Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem stayed in tact, because headlining fights are being scrapped way too often nowadays. However, some very exciting matches were lost to the injury bug.
We’ll start with the first injury that occurred to the card, the great co-main event between Ben Rothwell and Fabricio Werdum.
Ben Rothwell
Both of these heavyweights were looking to bounce back from recent losses, while remaining in the top five of the division. Rothwell losing to Junior dos Santos, and Werdum of course losing his title to Stipe Miocic.
This was a very interesting matchup between two of the division’s top fighters. Rothwell’s unique style has earned him amazing victories over Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett, but also made him look silly against dos Santos. With power in his hands, an unexpectedly good jiu-jitsu game, and a dark WWE-like character, Rothwell has become a fan favorite.
Fabricio Werdum has recently transitioned from an exclusively jiu-jitsu based fighter, into a feared striker that cannot be taken down. Stellar striking performances against Travis Browne and Roy Nelson, and a beautiful title winning knee against Mark Hunt have proven the diversity in the Brazilian’s game.
Travis Browne replaced Rothwell in the co-main event after Rothwell’s knee injury, which is a very odd choice considering how one-sided the first match was. That being said, this is the heavyweight division, and Werdum can recklessly rely on his striking at times. Should be fun, but certainly not as interesting as the original matchup.
Mairbek Taisumov and Damir Hadzovic vs. Yasuke Kasuya
Both men have fought each other in the UFC, and both men pulled out of UFC 203 for the same reason: Visa issues. Visa issues caused Taisumov to pull out of a matchup with Chris Wade, so it is odd that the problem is not solved yet.
Taisumov is an absolute knockout artist who was set to face Nik Lentz on this card. The fight definitely would have had great entertainment value given Lentz’s willingness to brawl, and Taisumov’s excellent striking. Nevertheless, Lentz landed newcomer Michael McBride, who missed weight but is 8-1 with eight submissions in his career.
Damir Hadzovic is also a promising striker who had the tough task of facing Taisumov in his promotional debut earlier this year. Hadzovic was looking to increase his number of career knockouts to five against fellow 0-1 Octagon competitor Yusuke Kasuya. The bout is rumored to have been moved to UFC Manila in October.
Erik Koch
Erik Koch, like teammate Anthony Pettis, has been plagued by injury issues throughout his career. Koch has now had 10 scheduled fights fail to come to fruition in his UFC career, while he is 4-3 with the promotion.
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Koch recently ended a two-year layoff with an excellent victory over Shane Campbell and looked better than ever doing so. He received a favorable matchup against Drew Dober at UFC 203, but cannot make it to fight night again. Hopefully the layoff is not as long this time around.
Dober now will face newcomer Jason Gonzalez, who owns finishes in all 10 of his career victories, but went 1-1 on a recent season of The Ultimate Fighter. We’ll see if Gonzalez can land a knockout blow on the wily veteran Dober.
Ian McCall vs. Ray Borg
Is there an unluckier fighter on the UFC roster than Ian McCall? He has been trying to return to the Octagon after over a year and a half away from the cage, but has had two bouts fizzle on fight week.
The veteran tried at UFC 201 against Justin Scoggins, but Scoggins failed horribly at trying to make weight. Then he signed on to fight Ray Borg at UFC 203, but Borg pulled out due to a fight week illness that hospitalized him.
There has been no word on what the next step for McCall will be, but he has received two straight paychecks without stepping foot in the Octagon. On the other side, Borg has pulled out of two straight fights.
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CB Dollaway
Now for the freak injury. Everything was fine, CB Dollaway weighed in at 205-pounds for the first time in his career. Then, he was injured in an elevator. There was a faulty elevator with plenty of fighters in it that dropped a floor, and Dollaway ended up hurting his back due to the fall.
It doesn’t get much freakier than that. There was Tim Means falling in a sauna on fight week and having to pull out, as well as Renan Barao falling in a bath tub, but those were during weight cuts. This was after everything was all set to go.
He was set to fight Francimar Barroso for his light heavyweight debut to try to stop his current three fight losing streak, and now an elevator has claimed victory over him.
If you’re keeping track at home, this is what the card would look like if the injury bug was repelled:
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