The UFC announced that an knee injury will keep middleweight champion Chris Weidman out of UFC 173’s main event title fight against Lyoto Machida. Instead of fighting on Memorial Day weekend the two will meet in a welterweight title fight in the main event of UFC 175 on July 5th at the Mandalay Bay Event Centre in Las Vegas.
“This is something that’s been bothering him for a while,” UFC president Dana White told Yahoo! Sports. “The knee pops out and (the UFC) told him a while ago to just get it taken care of and be done with it. He didn’t do it and, unfortunately, it became more and more of a problem for him.”
Weidman will have minor surgery to correct the issue and is expected to be back to training in 4-6 weeks.
The move means that UFC 173 needs a new main-event. The UFC had announced a “full card” just one day before the injury news. The second biggest fight on the card was scheduled to be former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos taking on up and coming contender Stipe Miocic.
A new main event for UFC 173 will be announced “in the days to come,” the UFC said in a statement.
Weidman joins the list of UFC Champions with injuries, Cain Velasquez (heavyweight – shoulder surger), Johny Hendricks (welterweight – biceps), and Anthony Pettis (lightweight – knee sugery) are all on the shelf, meaning four of the UFC’s seven male champions are currently injured.
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