Unfortunately it would appear that the UFC’s injury jinx is back in full effect as Dana White’s just announced that Anthony Pettis has been forced out of his featherweight title fight with Jose Aldo at UFC 163 due to an injured knee.
Pettis himself has since revealed that it was a small tear in his miniscus that’s left him unable to compete, but he’s vowed to come back sooner rather than later.
Reacting quickly to the news, the UFC have already lined up a replacement with Chang Sung Jung, AKA ‘The Korean Zombie’ now stepping forward to take the title shot against Aldo in Rio, Brazil on August 3rd.
‘The Korean Zombie’ had originally been scheduled to face Ricardo Lamas on the main card of UFC 162 in what many believed was a No.1 contender bout. He’s been in scintillating form of late during a three-fight winning streak that’s seen him earn two ‘Submission Of The Night’ bonuses along with a ‘Knockout Of The Night’ and ‘Fight Of The Night’ award.
So we could still have a fun fight on our hands, but I must admit to being disappointed we won’t get to see Aldo Vs Pettis as that really could have been something special.
For the record, UFC 163 also has two other big fights in Lyoto Machida Vs Phil Davis and Demain Maia Vs Josh Koscheck, but they’ll be hoping there’s no other injuries from now until the show as the star power thins out pretty quickly after that.
