Another day, another injury to a UFC fighter. This time it’s welterweight Hector Lombard who’s injured. The former Bellator middleweight champ and current contender at 170lbs in the UFC last night announced he is injured and out of his fight against Dong Hyun Kim, which was set to take place at UFC Fight Night 48 on August 23 at CotaiArena in Macau, China. His replacement, UFC president Dana White announced, will be none other than than Tyron Woodley, who will take on Kim on short notice just a few weeks after losing a decision to Rory MacDonald at UFC 174. Although I was looking forward to Lombard vs. Kim like most people were, this Woodley vs. Kim matchup is really, really intriguing to me, and there’s no doubt in my mind the winner of the bout will be very close to getting a title shot at 170lbs. Obviously Woodley was super disappointing in the fight against MacDonald, but at the same time maybe MacDonald is just that damn good and maybe Woodley’s performance wasn’t as bad as Dana White made it out to be. At the same time, though, he still needs to get back on track and be more aggressive than what he showed in that fight, and this matchup against the wild Kim is likely a picture-perfect fight for him to get back on track. Although Kim has won his last two fights via highlight-reel knockouts, he’s been extremely reckless in his bouts against John Hathaway and Erick Silva and if he comes out throwing wild strikes against Woodley he could get caught and knocked out. Yes, Kim has the ground game to mix things up if things aren’t going right on the feet, but Woodley has the wrestling to keep this fight standing and on the feet Woodley certainly could knock Kim out if he doesn’t tuck his chin. So it will be interesting to see if Kim wants to continue with his exciting, brawling style or go back to his takedown-heavy style in order to have the best chance of winning this fight against Woodley, one that will firmly entrench the winner in the division’s top five. As far as the line goes, this one will be interesting because the majority of the betting public is down on Woodley after the stinker against Kim while Kim is a guy who bounces up-and-down as far as his respect from the public goes. I think in this particular matchup people are going to have a hard time deciding who to favor based on the styles, so I’m guessing it’s close to a Pick ’em with a slight lean towards Kim just because people will likely be so down on Woodley after UFC 174. But I really could see either guy being a slight favorite. Regardless of the line, this is going to be a great fight and with this bout along with the main event of Michael Bisping vs. Cung Le, UFC Fight Night 48 should be a very fun event.
