Once again, the infamous injury bug has caused UFC plans to be altered. Chris Weidman has pulled out of his rematch with Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, and in his stead, Michael Bisping steps up for the first title shot of his career.
Reports emerged yesterday afternoon that the former champion was forced to withdraw from the bout after a long standing neck injury had become too much to overcome. Today those details were confirmed by Weidman himself, as the 31 year old took to Facebook to discuss the problem, as well as his future plans in the sport.
“Since my high-school wrestling days, my neck, every once in a while, would get stiff,” stated Weidman. “Every athlete who has been competing in any sport experiences this, but it usually goes away pretty quickly in a day or two. It never has been a real problem for me or slowed me down.”
This time however, after a midweek work out, the pain in his neck started to grow.
“When I finally woke up on Saturday, which is a sparring day, I had severe vertigo which I never experience before. I was losing my balance and not walking straight and the neck was worse then ever. So I got scared and ended up going to an urgent care where they sent me to get a MRI. I then found out I had a large extrusion herniation, which was stuck on a nerve that shuts down the tricep and and forearm area.
“I am being told I’m going to need surgery. Either they take the disc out or they fuse it and I have to meet with surgeons today to figure out what they will do. The good thing is it is c6-7 which is low in the neck, so I will have full range of motion either way and will be back better then ever. I’m told it’s six-to-eight week recovery for the disc coming out and twelve weeks for a fusion. Even though it’s very hard for me to see a bright side right now, the one silver lining I’m focused on is the timetable would allow me to fight on that NY card in November.
“I still planned on fighting until yesterday when my coaches and loved ones really just put their foot down. The people I trusted most were not behind me fighting and pushing through. So before getting the second epidural I decided to give the UFC a fair amount of time to find another opponent for Luke.”
Today, UFC President Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter to announce that Rockhold would indeed be remaining on the card, and would be facing #4 ranked Michael Bisping.
Jacare Souza had been the first choice as replacement, but the Brazilian had a knee injury following his recent bout with Vitor Belfort.
The announcement provides the culmination to a decade long for Bisping, who won The Ultimate Fighter season 3 ten years ago. Since then, he has long sought a title shot, coming short in number one contender bouts on numerous occasions.
After beating Anderson Silva in London in February of this year however, it seemed that ‘The Count’ could finally claim he’d won a big enough fight to get the shot and, while it may be on two weeks notice, Bisping finally has his title fight.
The fight takes on another nuance, as Bisping and Rockhold have a heated history. The two fought in November, 2014, where Rockhold walked away the victor after a second round submission.
Before that fight, the two engaged in a prolonged back and forth, with the Bisping claiming he had gotten the better of the Californian in a sparring session some years prior, and Rockhold taking offence. On several occasions, the two entered into shouting matches with each other.
Following that bout, Rockhold trounced Lyoto Machida, before going on to win the title in the Co-Main event of UFC 194, while Bisping has won three in a row.
Interestingly enough, this is the first rematch of both mens careers.
While this fight may not have the sheer competitiveness that Rockhold-Weidman II had, it still offers both a heated rivalry, and a reward to the Brit for his long years of service.
