Stipe Miocic has been forced out of his co-main event fight with Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 76 in a little over a week’s time afer suffering an undisclosed injury in training.
It’s believed Miocic’s injury is not serious and it’s hoped he’ll be able to return to action before the end of the year if required.
The 33 year-old is currently ranked No.3 in the official heavyweight rankings after winning three of his last four fights, so this fight had potential title implications in the division, though he himself had recently admitted that he’d probably “need to get more popular” before the UFC would hand him a title shot.
The UFC are now believed to be looking for a late replacement opponent for Rothwell to keep him on the card in Dublin, Ireland, though that won’t be easy on less than two weeks notice. ‘Big Ben’ is currently on a three-fight winning streak in the division, his best run in the promotion to date, and holds down the No.7 spot at heavyweight.
As things stand UFC Fight Night 76 remains headlined by rising Irish star Joseph Duffy who’ll take on a resurgent Dustin Poirier and if worst comes to worst and the UFC can’t find a suitable replacement to fight Rothwell then it’s likely that the featured prelim between former TUF winner Norman Parke and Reza Madadi will be moved to make up the numbers on the four-fight main card.
