Injury influx won't shut down UFC 108
Six weeks ago, I was reading a fight magazine at the airport in Manchester, England, and there was a feature asking people if they could have any job in mixed martial arts, whose would they want?
The top answers were UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva. I could only laugh, and think of White's frequent comment, "You don't want this job. Every day when you wake up, you know there's going to be a disaster."
The previous night at UFC 105, during a discussion about the health of heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who at one point hoped to defend his championship on Saturday night's UFC 108 show, the subject of the show came up and White said, "What do you think is the main event?" I mentioned the match that, at the time, was the scheduled main event, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez.
"Nope, Nogueira's out with a staph infection," said White.
Well, the logical choice then would be to put Velasquez against Shane Carwin, a match that was at one time on the books for October.
"Nope, Carwin's having knee surgery," he said.
Carwin suffered a knee sprain, but ended up not having surgery, although there was no chance he would be ready by Jan. 2.
What comes across to some like a dream job is, for both, just as often a nightmare, filling up more than 20 events per year and trying to put compelling fights together. Then after lining up what they expect will be a good show, injuries, illness and contract issues seem to lead things to the brink of falling apart. But there has never been anything approaching the series of mishaps leading up to Saturday night's card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where no fewer than six separate planned matches fell apart.
In late November, when it became clear that no heavyweight title or top contender match would materialize, there was internal frustration and panic about how to salvage the show.
In recent weeks, the story behind UFC 108 has turned more to dark comedy. On Dec. 11, Sean Sherk agreed to replace the injured Tyson Griffin in a fight with Jim Miller. Six days later, Sherk got a cut over his right eye in training and had to pull out. Tuesday, word got out that Steve Cantwell, scheduled to face Vladimir Matyushenko, suffered a cut in training and at press time, UFC officials had no comment as to whether he would be fighting on Saturday, but the match is in jeopardy. If Cantwell is out, that would make ten major injuries and one serious illness of fighters scheduled for the show. And it's not just the fighters, as this past week, Joe Silva, who has been trying to Scotch-tape together a crumbling card, tore his MCL in training.
"It could be just bad luck, but the level of injuries in this sport far exceeds boxing and kickboxing," noted Javier Mendez, a former world champion kickboxer who owns the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., one of the world's leading MMA training centers.
Mendez, who helps train Velasquez, who was originally to headline the show, said it's not that the fights themselves are more dangerous, as he believes you take more physical damage in boxing and kickboxing matches than in MMA bouts. The issue is with the training being far more demanding, both in terms of time and punishment.
UFC 108's casualty list
A complete list of the injuries and issues affecting UFC 108:
1. Anderson Silva: The middleweight champ hoped to defend his title against Vitor Belfort, after surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. But his healing went slower than expected, and the match is now scheduled for April.
2. Brock Lesnar: After the heavyweight champion fell ill with what was later diagnosed as an intestinal infection, his November match with Shane Carwin for the title was scheduled for this show, but it became clear a few weeks later he wasn’t going to be able to make Jan. 2.
3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Nogueira was scheduled to face Cain Velasquez, but had to pull out due to a staph infection. The match was rescheduled for Feb. 21.
4. Shane Carwin: With both Lesnar and Nogueira out of action, it made sense to put together Velasquez vs. Carwin, but Carwin had suffered a knee injury in training.
5. Lyoto Machida: After the controversial judging decision where Machida kept the title over Mauricio Rua, Dana White wanted the rematch on this show. However, Machida had surgery on his left hand, so the match won’t take place until May 1.
6. Tyson Griffin: The top lightweight contender pulled out of a fight with Jim Miller due to what his camp called a minor injury that they refused to disclose.
7. Sean Sherk: The former lightweight champion was moved to replace Griffin against Miller, but he had to pull out after suffering a cut that needed stitches above his right eye.
8. Carlos Condit: The former WEC welterweight champion was scheduled against Paul Daley, but while cleaning out his garage, some sheet metal fall on him and sliced his hand open, causing him to have to pull out.
9. Gabriel Gonzaga: The onetime heavyweight title contender, scheduled to face Junior Dos Santos, suffered a staph infection in training and pulled out. He’s being replaced by Gilbert Yvel.
10. Rory Markham: Suffered a torn Achilles tendon in training for his fight with Martin Kampmann. He’s been replaced by former Minnesota wrestler Jacob Volkmann.
11. Steve Cantwell: Suffered an injury this week that forced cancellation of his match with Vladimir Matyushenko. Dana White said Cantwell's career is in jeopardy.
List compiled by Dave Meltzer.
"When I was a kickboxer, the training was roadwork and kickboxing, that was all you did," he said. "You would train three or four hours, maybe, each day. With MMA, you have to learn boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, judo, wrestling. You have to train a morning session, an afternoon session and an evening session."
Mendez feels the uptick in injuries is because of the increased level of competition. On one hand, you have to learn as much as you can and train in a variety of disciplines, but on the other, all that training wears your body down. Fighters have to figure out how to balance proficiency in as many styles as your opponent without having your body beaten up in training for the fight.
"I truly believe MMA is the most physically demanding sport in the world," he said.
Greg Jackson, who trains many of the biggest names in the sport, including Saturday night headliner Rashad Evans, sees things differently.
"I think it's more of a fluke," he said. "I think as the competition gets better, it'll reduce injuries."
His feeling is as training fighters evolve, the training camps will become safer, noting a huge part of his job is to protect the enthusiastic fighter against himself.
"You can't go 100 percent balls to the wall all the time. There's a balance. You can't do that the first two weeks of training camp. You have to peak the day of the fight."
"Mostly I have to pull them back. My guys want to go harder, longer and faster. Sometimes you have to tell them, `you're done.'"
It's devastating for promoters, who arrange dates months in advance due to the nature of television networks and pay-per-view providers. Things happen, such as with Mendez's fighter, Trevor Prangley, who was a late replacement to face Robbie Lawler on the Dec. 19 Strikeforce show. Five days before the event, Prangley blew out his knee.
"It's not exactly easy to find a quality opponent who will take a fight on five days' notice to face Robbie Lawler," Mendez noted, as Lawler ended up not fighting on the show.
Back in September, UFC 108 looked to be a card with the unique problem of having too many big matches.
Then, the dominoes started falling. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva's minor surgery to repair bone chips in his elbow healed slower than expected.
Lesnar fell ill, which ended up diagnosed as a case of diverticulitis, which has him out indefinitely. Light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida had surgery on his left hand. Suddenly, with B.J. Penn scheduled for Dec. 12 and Georges St. Pierre not being ready to fight until February due to a torn abductor muscle, UFC was in a position where instead of too many title matches for one night, there were none available.
A prospective Dan Henderson vs. Nate Marquardt match to determine the top contender for the middleweight title was bandied about, but it fell apart as Henderson and UFC couldn't agree to terms on a new contract and he signed with Strikeforce.
Then the middle of the card got gutted. Carlos Condit, Gabriel Gonzaga, Rory Markham, Griffin and Sherk all pulled out for a variety of ailments over the past six weeks. White decided to go on with the show on pay-per-view, avoiding what would be a stream of logistical nightmares in trying to make a late change in plans.
So the year-end show in Las Vegas, which since 2006 has been one of the biggest cards on the calendar, features one marquee fight, Rashad Evans (18-1-1), the former light heavyweight champion, facing Thiago Silva (14-1). Both men's only loss is to current champion Machida.
Silva's last fight was a win against Evans' best friend and training partner, Keith Jardine. And Evans himself was only available because his original opponent, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, pulled out of a scheduled Dec. 12 match in Memphis.
The other live matches are Dustin Hazelett (12-4), a submission whiz who is hardly someone who would expect to be a pay-per-view semifinalist, facing Paul Daley (22-8-2), a British striker who is one of the sport's most exciting welterweight fighters as long as he can keep the fight standing. Jim Miller (15-2), has gone from short powerhouses Griffin, and Sherk, instead faces a tall kickboxer in Duane "Bang" Ludwig (19-9).
Joe Lauzon (18-4) returns from knee surgery to face Sam Stout (20-5-1) and Junior Dos Santos (10-1), a legitimate heavyweight contender, faces the Gilbert Yvel (36-13-1), a good stand-up fighter who in the early part of the decade when fighting in Japan was considered the dirtiest fighter in the sport. For years, UFC wouldn't touch Yvel, and at one point Nevada wouldn't license him because he punched a referee in a match in Europe.