Things have gone from bad to worse for Chris Weidman after having his house ruined during Hurricane Sandy in October. Now he’s now picked up an injury which will force him out of his UFC 155 fight with Tim Boetsch on December 29th.
Weidman told Newsday.com that it’s a shoulder injury suffered during a training session on Tuesday that’s forced him to pull out, and though there’s no official diagnosis yet he fears it might be a torn labrum.
The UFC have moved swiftly to find a suitable replacement and so Weidman’s team-mate Costa Philippou will now step in at short-notice to fight Boetsch instead.
Philippou had originally been lined up to fight Nick Ring at last weekend’s UFC 154 event, but the fight was canceled on the day of the show after Ring pulled out due to a respiratory illness.
Weidman will undoubtedly be disappointed that he won’t get the chance to fight Boetsch as this had been billed as a potential No.1 contender bout at 185lbs, but if there’s any consolation then at least it will allow him to focus more of his attention on his home and young family as they attempt to get back to normality and repair their Long Island home after last month’s storm.
It’s also a blow for the UFC as there’s no escaping the fact that Boetsch Vs Philippou is not as big a fight, and comes less than a week after Gray Maynard pulled out of his fight with Joe Lauzon, resulting in Jim Miller coming in as his replacement.
It’s not the end of the world though, with a major heavyweight title rematch between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez still headlining the end-of-year show.
