posted October 26, 2009 at 19:01 EST in UFC / MMA Articles
Lesnar Withdraws from UFC 106
by Nick Meyer
After coming down with an undisclosed sickness that has left him unable to train for the past three and a half weeks, Brock Lesnar decided to pull out of his UFC 106 matchup with Shane Carwin for the heavyweight title in Las Vegas.
UFC President Dana White told Yahoo Sports first about the cancellation, and Carwin, Lensar’s opponent, posted on his Twitter page that he was “very disappointed” by the news.
The fight was scheduled to take place on November 21 but will now likely be re-scheduled for January 2nd at UFC 108. The cancellation and the reasoning behind it has even sparked some question as to whether or not Lesnar was advised to drop out in order to maximize pay-per-view profits for the UFC.
The main event for UFC 106 now will likely be Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz and both are big-time fan favorites. Their rematch could still do quite well as a pay-per-view draw in many fans’ eyes and moving the Carwin vs. Lesnar fight to the day after New Year’s Day is absolutely guaranteed to be a massive money maker through both PPV buys and at the gate.
Considering that Lesnar has known about this fight for so long and that he still would have almost a month to train, his justification for withdrawing doesn’t seem to be sufficient enough on paper.
That’s without knowing exactly what Lesnar’s illness is, of course, and the UFC would do well to release more details of the sickness soon to avoid a PR problem, assuming it is indeed something debilitating.
Carwin was expected to be a fairly big betting underdog going into the Lesnar fight and likely will remain so again by the time they will in for their much-anticipated title bout.
In the meantime, fans can still look forward to a ton of MMA action in the next month including the conclusion of the popular Ultimate Fighter heavyweights TV show. The finale will also include live fights as well. Strikeforce will show perhaps the biggest free MMA card in the history of network television as Fedor Emelianenko battles Brett Rogers, and UFC 105 will air live on Spike TV on November 14 from London, England, featuring Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera.
For more on these fights and other MMA event betting information, check out the BetUS.com Sportsbook today and get ready to watch the madness unfold.
