The UFC Heavyweight division injury bug has struck. Shane Carwin, coming off a tough submission loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 116, announced earlier this morning via his website that he will be pulling out of his match-up with Roy Nelson at UFC 125.
Carwin wrote:
“I am going to pull out of the fight with Roy Nelson. As many of you know I have been having some back pain. I had an MRI yesterday and I have some damage that may really require surgery. If the doctors do not have to perform surgery then I will be out 8-12 weeks. If they do have to perform surgery I do not know how long I will be out of action.
I was really looking forward to fighting again and obviously this is a very disappointing turn of events. My manager said “You can’t fight the best fighters in the world with just heart, it is time to stop limping to the top of the mountain and get healthy so you can climb it on your terms.” I have been up all night thinking about this decision and what I may be missing by making it.
In the end my family and manager are right. I owe myself, I owe my fans the best show I can give them. I need to get healthy. I am going to be speaking with the surgeon this week about the surgery. My thoughts are if the surgery fixes it why add 8-12 weeks of physical therapy, epidurals and traction if surgery may still be needed.
The good news is the doctors said I can work on my cardio (they must have seen my last fight lol) with this injury.”
It would appear that this will leave UFC adequate time to find a replacement for Shane Carwin. The event is scheduled for January 1st, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and features the second UFC Lightweight title defense of champion Frankie Edgar against Gray Maynard in the main event. With few name heavyweights in the division without fights heading into 2011, one has to believe that Frank Mir or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be substituted in Carwin’s place.
