Evans out of UFC 170 co-main event due to knee injury
Published on Thursday, 2/13/14, at 5:12 p.m. Eastern.
By Brian Edwards
The UFC 170 card took a huge hit last night when it was announced that ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans suffered a knee injury that will keep him out of his light-heavyweight showdown versus Daniel Cormier. Evans’ injury won’t require surgery but the former 205-pound kingpin will need four weeks of rehab.
With the event only nine days away, initial reports indicated that Evans-Cormier would be re-booked for the UFC 172 card that has Jon ‘Bones’ Jones defending his strap against Glover Teixeira in Baltimore. However, Cormier didn’t like that idea after going through camp in preparation for his first fight at 205.
Therefore, Dana White has found an opponent in Patrick Cummins, who is a former All-American wrestler at Penn St. Cummins owns a 4-0 record since turning pro in mixed martial arts. Cummins has trained with the likes of King Mo, Mayhem Miller and Cormier.
In fact, White told MMAFighting.com, “The thing that’s interesting about this kid is that he was the training partner of Daniel Cormier and claims that he made Cormier cry when they would train together. Not only did he say that, he said he broke him every time, and he said he would break him again next Saturday.”
No odds have been released yet, but you can expect Cormier to be heavily favored (at least -600 I would think).
In other UFC news…
–Lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez might not be fighting with the promotion much longer. His contract has expired and White is reportedly fed up with Melendez’s demands.
–Alistair Overeem has turned down a fight against Junior dos Santos twice, according to White. Overeem is claiming an injury is why he didn’t accept the offer(s) to face JDS, the former heavyweight champ. Overeem is coming off a ho-hum decision win over Frank Mir.
–In the main event of UFC’s Fight Night this Saturday, Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida will face Gegard Mousasi in a middlweight scrap. I like ‘under’ 3.5 rounds for a +140 payout (risk $100 to win $140). I also like Ronaldo Souza to beat Francis Carmont by submission (+165) in the co-main event.
–In an upcoming fight, I’m extremely bullish on Carlos ‘The Natural Born Killer’ to take care of Tyron Woodley at a -165 price.
