The UFC has dealt with tons of injuries over the last few years that have caused a number of high-profile fights to be cancelled, and 2013 hasn’t been imune. According to UFC president Dana White, who today broke the news on his Twitter account, Anthony Pettis has been forced to pull out of his upcoming featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 163 and now it will be Aldo vs. “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung for the title in the main event of the August 3 PPV card. This is absolutely disastrous news to the UFC as Aldo vs. Pettis was expected to be one of the marquee matchups of the summer. Pettis, the former WEC lightweight champion, made the move down to 145 to fight Aldo in a superfight for the title, a fight that every UFC fan out there was super excited for because it would have pitted arguably two of the top five strikers in the world against one another. But Pettis has a torn meniscus and had to pull out, and now it’s Korean Zombie vs. Aldo instead. Although Pettis vs. Aldo would have likely been highly competitive, Aldo vs. Zombie seems like a pretty big mismatch. Sure, Jung has improved quite a bit since his days in the WEC, but this is still the same fight who lost a split decision to Leonard Garcia just a few years ago. Against Aldo, who is a way better striker, I don’t like Zombie’s chances at all and he is likely to be on the receiving end of a highlight-reel knockout from the hands, knees, feet or elbows of Aldo. But because the Korean Zombie is popular amongst fans, he was given the title shot instead of Ricardo Lamas, who is arguably more deserving. This fight between Aldo and Jung seems like a mismatch on paper and the betting lines will reflect that. I would expect Aldo to open at around -700 with the comeback on Zombie being +500, although it’s possible the public hype behind Zombie takes the Aldo line down to a bettable number. Now that Jung is fighting Aldo, Lamas is left without an opponent, as he had been scheduled to fight The Korean Zombie at UFC 162. Now, it’s up in the air as to who Lamas will fight. If it was my decision, I’d take Frankie Edgar out of his fight against Charles Oliveira and have him fight Lamas in a No. 1 contender’s matchup, while Oliveira can fight a UFC newcomer or someone coming off of a loss at featherweight. The Edgar vs. Oliveira matchup doesn’t make much sense, anyways, so it wouldn’t be a big loss if the UFC switched things around. Regardless, this is really bad news today for the UFC and knock on wood no more injuries happen the rest of the summer, although that’s likely being too optimistic. Ricci vs. Jury Added To UFC 165 A lightweight bout between Mike Ricci and Myles Jury has been added to the upcoming UFC 165 card in Toronto, according to MMAFighting.com. The bout will likely take place on the preliminary portion of the card that’s to be headlined by Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson. This is a complete mismatch and I would expect the betting lines to display that. Look for Jury to open up around -400, with the comeback on Ricci +300 or so, but that number on Jury could go higher if bettors decide to parlay him.
