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After UFC welterweight Jon Fitch’s original opponent, Ricardo Almeida, was forced to withdraw from a UFC 106 contest due to injury, the American Kickboxing Academy product agreed to instead meet Thiago Alves at UFC 107.
But Fitch again finds himself without an opponent, as AOL FanHouse is reporting that Alves has now been forced to withdraw as well. AOL FanHouse’s report cites a torn posterior cruciate ligament as the culprit, and MMAjunkie has since been able to verify the assessment.
Alves had been scheduled to face Paulo Thiago on the “UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez” card but was pulled from that bout in favor of the highly anticipated rematch with Fitch. Sources close to the fighter indicate that Alves reluctantly agreed to withdraw from the bout and is expected to return in early 2010.
It’s currently unknown who, if anyone, the UFC will look to match Fitch up with now. Thiago is also currently awaiting a new opponent. While a simple solution would be to pair the two welterweights together, Fitch defeated Thiago soundly in July, making a rematch this soon seem highly unlikely.
Featuring a lightweight title fight between current champion B.J. Penn and challenger Diego Sanchez, UFC 107 is slated for Dec. 12 in Memphis, Tenn.
On the other hand UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson will get a chance to make up some of the $60,000 he lost in Los Angeles, as the UFC officially announced today that “Rumble” will meet Josh Koscheck in the co-feature of “UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II.”
With the shuffling necessary after the rescheduling of a Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin heavyweight title fight, the UFC has also promoted the welterweight contest of Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah to the evening’s main card.
UFC 106 is scheduled for Nov. 21 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The main card airs live on pay per view.
Johnson seeks to redeem himself after registering 176 pounds for his UFC 104 contest with Yoshiyuki Yoshida less than one week ago. Johnson earned a knockout win in devastating fashion over Yoshida, but UFC president Dana White ruled Johnson ineligible for the evening’s $60,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus because he had come in overweight.
Meanwhile, Koscheck looks to build on the success of a September win over Frank Trigg at UFC 103. Koscheck, who also knocked out Yoshida in December 2008, is 2-2 in his past four trip to the cage.
