The injury bug is out in full effect early in 2012 as both Amir Sadollah and Ricardo Lamas had to pull out of their UFC 143 bouts due to injury.
Sadollah was scheduled to face Jorge Lopez, but now Matt Riddle (5-3) will step in to face Lopez after pulling out of his UFC 141 bout due to illness. Riddle has lost his last two bouts and is in desperate need of a win if he plans to stay in the UFC. Jorge Lopez (11-2) lost his UFC debut back in September 2011 against Justin Edwards.
Also, Ricardo Lamas has been forced to pull out of his bout with Dustin Poirier after replacing Erick Koch. A replacement will be named for Poirier shortly.
The tentative UFC 143 card can be found below:
- Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit(UFC Interim Welterweight Title)
- Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Pierce
- Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Jorge Lopez vs. Matt Riddle
- Renan Barao vs. Scott Jorgensen
- Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper
- Alex Caceres vs. Edwin Figueroa
- Matt Brown vs. Chris Cope
- Dustin Poirier vs. TBD
- Justin Edwards vs. Mike Stumpf
- Ed Herman vs. Clifford Starks