UFC 149 Preview
The UFC has continued to grow in the sports world but along with their growth has come a strange trend. Injuries have continued to pile up in the UFC and have begun to wreak havoc on fight cards. Injuries have always been a part of every sport including the UFC but it seems more and more that injuries have taken hold of the championship. It started mainly with the smaller card fighters who were replaced with almost no outcry. Then it began creeping into main cards where fighters who had a big storyline began falling out one by one. Then it hit the top fighters including Georges St. Pierre who has been out of the UFC for the better part of a year thanks to two consecutive injuries. Since the injury to GSP the main cards and main events have switched in many of the fight cards. All of the injuries have become common place now in the UFC and it is in large part to the new pressure on many of the fighters. It has now become a major sport and winning can mean a good life for many of these fighters. This means a lot of them push themselves to the limit which means they can also push themselves past the limits. With fighters continuing to try to get to the top the injuries will continue to be an issue but there must be a change in training so that these injuries can be reduced and the UFC is not left with a card like the one at UFC 149. The card at UFC 149 is not bad in fact it looks to be a great one but the issue with it is that the amount of changes that had to be made were more than any other card in the history of the UFC. The original card would feature fighters like Yoshihiro Akiyama, Thiago Alves, Minotauro Nogueira, Thiago Silva, Michael Bisping, Siyar Bahadurzada, and a title fight between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch. All of these fighters would go down with injuries and replaced with new fighters. The biggest switch was that of the main event which was changed from the Featherweight title fight to a bantamweight title fight. Instead of the Jose Aldo-Erick Koch fight the UFC put the Urijah Faber-Renan Barao in the main event after Jose Aldo was hurt training. This new main event was not without change as well with the Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz tore his ACL during training while filming of The Ultimate Fighter. In his place would be Renan Barao who would take on Urijah Faber at UFC 148 for the Interim Bantamweight Title. With the injury to Aldo the fight was pushed back a few weeks to UFC 148 as both fighters look to take the belt until Cruz is ready to fight again. The match-up will be a good one as both fighters are at the top of their game. Urijah Faber has won everything there is to win in MMA except a UFC belt. When he arrived from the WEC he was considered one of the best light fighters in the world but has struggled to win a belt in the UFC. Meanwhile Renan Barao has racked up an impressive record, 30-1; 1 NC, including a three fight win streak since entering the UFC. Both fighters have the same set of skills with slight differences in their games. Both Faber and Barao are very well-rounded fighters with Barao having the stronger hands and Faber having the better takedowns. As both fighters are very good this fight promises to be a close one but the experience of Faber should prevail in a fast paced tilt that will see the veteran take the unanimous decision.
No place on the card was without change as two fights in the main card will also see new faces after injuries forced some changes. In the co-main event Tim Boetsch would take on Michael Bisping in a match-up between two middleweights looking to move up the ladder in the now open middleweight division. An injury to Bisping would force a change in the fight as Hector Lombard would take over to face Tim Boetsch. Lombard has an impressive 32-2; 1 NC record but has struggled in his last few fights. He will look to turn it with a chance to face a rising star in Tim Boetsch. The Barbarian has been making his name known in the middleweight division putting together a three fight win streak after trading wins and losses for years. Both fighters will be looking to climb up the ladder of a division who still trying to find a new #1 contender. In another main card matchup Cheick Kongo was to take on Minotauro Nogueira in a key matchup for the Frenchmen. An injury to Nogueira ended the fight and Shawn Jordan got his shot at a major fight on a main card. Kongo was looking forward to attempting to put a big name on his resume with Nogueira but will now be playing the opposite role in this heavyweight fight. As a mainstay in the heavyweight division Kongo is the veteran in this fight and still carries a heavy name in the division. Shawn Jordan will now be looking to put that name in his hit list with his second fight in the UFC. Getting this shot in the main card is a big step for Jordan who looks to use it a springboard to the top of the division. Changes are the theme in UFC 149 but despite all of the changes have not destroyed what looks to be a great debut for the UFC in Calgary.
Fight Card
Main Event:
Urijah “The California Kid” Faber vs. Renan Barao [Interim Bantamweight Title] (PPV)
Main Card:
Hector Lombard vs. Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch (PPV)
Cheick Kongo vs. Shawn “The Savage” Jordan (PPV)
Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole vs. James Head (PPV)
Chris “The Menace” Clements vs. Matthew Riddle (PPV)
Undercard:
Court “The Crusher” McGee vs. Nick “The Promise” Ring (Sportsnet)
Roland Delorme vs. Francisco “Cisco” Rivera (Sportsnet)
Ryan “Big Deal” Jimmo vs. Anthony “The Hippo” Perosh (Sportsnet)
Bryan “Kid Lightning” Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon (Sportsnet)
Antonio “Pato” Carvalho vs. Daniel “The Pit” Pineda (Facebook)
Mitch “Danger Zone” Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen (Facebook)
The Sport Addiction 