Back Injury Prevents Cheick Kongo From Fighting Roy Nelson at UFC 116 in July
A back injury suffered in his March win over Paul Buentello will likely prevent heavyweight Cheick Kongo from facing The Ultimate Fighter 10 winner Roy Nelson at UFC 116 on July 3 in Las Vegas, though the matchup, which was first reported on Saturday, could still take place later this year.
“I have to be able to start my preparation – the thing I haven’t done yet. I am still injured [from the Buentello fight],” Kongo today told Riddum. “I don’t think it would happen at UFC 116. Maybe later but not then. I didn’t get any word from the UFC [on this matchup] and as of today I’m just actively recovering and nothing else.”
Kongo (15-6-1), who recently signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC, rebounded from back-to-back losses to Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez with a third-round TKO of Buentello at the UFC’s Versus debut last month, while Nelson (15-4) earned “Knockout of the Night” honors for his first-round TKO of Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night 21 in March.
UFC 116 is headlined by the anticipated return of heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar vs. interim title-holder Shane Carwin, and is expected to be co-headlined by Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama.
For the latest UFC 116 news, UFC 116 rumors, and UFC 116 fight card stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Cheick Kongo
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Could end up being a blessing for Nelson …….. I’d like to see Nelson vs Gonzaga !
nelson vs. gonzaga could be a really fun fight. gonzaga has become the obvious gatekeeper to the elites of the heavyweights and i suspect nelson will become that also. both have good jiu jitsu and solid standup… otherwise it would be big nog or dos santos for nelson. i don’t see that happening….
Kongo has been scared stiff to stand and trade with anyone willing to throw a punch in recent bouts… back injury my arse!
So what you’re saying is he couldn’t possibly have a back injury, because he has no back bone? ;)
haha I liked that one Justin!
Glad you liked it. I couldn’t resist posting it, even though I don’t necessarily agree with your position on the matter.
I didn’t think you would agree with it. I kind of don’t agree with it myself, but we have all seen Kongo losing confidence with his stand-up in recent bouts and seeing as Nelson is coming from two wins that are showing his punching power, it does make you wonder about Kongo’s heart or will to fight.
I do like Kongo though and I hope he comes back from this injury better than ever.
i feel the same way about kongo, but this isn’t good luck for him. chances are he could be matched up with dos santos instead when he returns… that just sucks almost no matter who you are…
You would think the present state of Kongo’s health would have come up during his contract signing and negotiations…
I was wondering about that myself…
I would think the exact opposite. What would Congo gain from being injured while trying to negotiate a contract? Wouldnt that diminish his value around contract time?
Why would it come up when the UFC allegedly hadn’t approached him about the fight? It’s right up there in the part we’re supposed to read. Kongo claims he hasn’t been offered the fight.
Since there was no fight offered, why would he mention it? Presumably it will heal before he takes a fight, why should it impact negotiations?
Do you tell your employer every time you get the sniffles? Do you mention the knee you twisted playing basketball when it comes time to discuss a raise?
Since there were no fight offers on the table, his health would have no bearing on negotiations. It’s irrelevant and I suspect the UFC is not allowed to ask as that becomes an issue of medical privacy.
And before anyone points me at the RUMORS section…. http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=event.ppvhome
There is no 116 yet.
Wait, just so I follow here, you’re saying that no one in the UFC front office, Joe Silva, Dana White, Heckle or Jeckle Fertita, no one, keeps any sort of track of a fighter’s go status?
When the new contracts were being signed, you’re saying no one talked to Kongo [or his handler's] about his next fight, when and where it might be, and against whoever?
Not that it would have adversely effected the situation, but it would seem that a fighters health would come up when he’s talking with his promoter/s.
I mean, this isn’t the NFL where an injury at the wrong time can cost a player thousands if not millions of dollars. This is MMA. Guys get hurt all the time, and their fights get rescheduled.
And just because the specific Nelson fight might not have yet been offered, its not like any of the parties were under the impression that Kongo wouldn’t be stepping back into the cage sooner than later, and against a name opponent.
After all, the guy was coming off of a reasonably impressive win against a guy that used to be someone in the MMA HW ranks.
Also, you DO in fact tell your employer, or at least you should, when an injury or illness makes you unable to fully perform at your job.
I was sent home 4 times back when I worked at the Stratosphere room service kitchen when I had a cold, a flu, and poison oak from a weekend hiking thing I did.
In the food industry, sick people dont’ work. Thats just how it goes.
And if a head chef or front of house manager finds you trying to hide the flu or a rash, you’re going to get fired, because that show unprofessionalism in the extreme, not to mention disrespect to your co-workers, your chef, and the diners you’re cooking for.
I would think that MMA isn’t significantly different, in terms of letting someone in management know when you aren’t ready to go.
And a guy like Kongo has a LOT more job security with the UFC than I did back in the day at the Strat.
Even today if I and my partners have a gig signed, and I get sick, we contract out to another chef, who cooks my menu to my specifications, rather than risking us getting clients sick, and ourselves possibly sued.
Maybe you’re right, and I’m giving the UFC WAY too much credit for intelligence and organization here, but I just find it hard to believe that the largest MMA promotion in the world has no clue as to which of their fighters is hurt and who is not, ESPECIALLY when they just signed him to a new deal…
Yeah, I do “tell my employer every time I get the sniffles” or “twist my knee playing basketball” (more likely hockey!). That’s what our sick days are for. If I turned down an assignment on the fire ground due to a workplace injury from a month ago, my employer would be all over me.
All smart-assery aside, of course Kongo revealing his injury during contract talks is NOT going to be the difference between a 3 fight contract and a 6 fight contract (unless it’s something far more severe and unpredictable) for a man of his status and marketability.
I think Jcohl and I are just saying that it is very surprising that the UFC is possibly laying down the paperwork for fights that involve guys that are currently doing ‘active recovery’ from an injury from fight that was a month ago. (Just because Kongo’s camp claims to have not seen anything on paper yet does not mean that it hasn’t at least been talked about by UFC brass, I would think).
I would have thought that at any point you could walk into DW’s office, ask him to list all injured fighters that could not take fights and get an answer that was 100% accurate. Maybe, I too, have over-estimated the business practice of the UFC. But, if this fight truly is not on paper, is not in DW’s headspace, and IS just some rumor started up by someone, then that statement is neither here nor there.
I don’t think it would make a big deal in the negotiations, but if I was a fighter, I would want to appear as healthy as possible when negotiating a long term contract. That’s really all I’m saying. I wouldn’t lie, but I wouldnt bring it up either.
To take it back to your comparison, if you were negotiating with a company to be their “special occasion” cheff for 3 years, would you tell them you were sick today? Why? It shouldnt matter since they arent asking you to cook tonight’s meal. All it could do it hurt your cause.
I say let nelson fight a big name fighter like valasquez. I’d put my money on the underdog. He’s a better stand up fighter and has world class jiu jitsu to go with it. Just my opinion.
I don’t know if he could handle the relentlessness of Cain, but I do agree that there are a lot more surprises up the Whopper-stained sleeves of Roy Nelson.
A lot of people’s opinions are changing when it comes to Roy Nelson.
He arrived in the UFC an accomplished small show MMA fighter and respected submission grappler.
He sort of burned that respect and earned some ridicule with his TUF appearance, but subsequently has opened the fanbase’s eyes with his Octagonal performances, to the point where people are calling for him to step in with someone like Cain Velasquez.
I’m not sure that Nelson will ever be ready for someone with Velasquez’s athleticism, skillset, and intensity, but it seems like more and more people every day would be willing to pay to find out…
Yeah, I didn’t like him at all based on his TUF appearance, but then I clued in that that show is so heavily edited that you can’t base anything off of it. If Dana wants you to look arrogant for the sake of sub-plots, the editors and a pair of scissors can do that.
After watching some older footage of Nelson, and some unedited interviews, you start to see that he is respectful and fairly self-deprecating, rather than boastful and absurd.
In the finale, he knocked out Brendan S. on only his second attempt at throwing a power punch, and it was the exact same combo that he tried about a minute earlier I believe.
His decimation of Struve was just as impressive as Dos Santos’. Now he’s lost that ‘LnP’ rep that followed him after the Kimbo win, and from now on anyone, including DW, that calls him boring obviously had their head under a rock during these last two fights.
I say keep him on the shelf until Kongo is ready (if he’s doing ‘active recovery’ the injury cannot be that bad). If he dispatches Kongo then let him ply his trade against the upper six in the heavy weight division.
That sucks…I’m sure he can fight Nelson with a bad back!!!?…he was just gonna lay down on it all comfy like Kimbo did against Nelson and his big belly wrecking machine country strength LOL no but really I was interested in seeing this one…maybe the rumored Nelson/JDS matchup? Who knows? Nelson vs Mir, again, or vs Minotauro, maybe? And by the way, I like Nelson…good fighter, much respect
Big Country’s already done enough to show he belongs in the upper echelon of UFC fighters but he needs a step up in competition to determine just where he fits in. Is he a contender or just a gatekeeper?
Possible matchups would be Mir, Gonzaga, Dos Santos and Valasquez. I don’t include Big Nog because though he’s one of the best of all time I believe he’s now over the hill and no longer the elite fighter he once was.
Mir is the matchup I like least. Winning wouldn’t do much for Roy because Frank is on the way down and is already considered just a gatekeeper by many. And if Mir wins it wouldn’t do much for him either since Roy hasn’t fought a top guy in the UFC yet. Put Mir against Big Nog instead with the winner getting another chance to prove he’s still an elite heavyweight and the loser being relegated to gatekeeper status for a while.
JDS and Valasquez are both pretty much out of the picture. According to Dana White they’re both sitting on the shelf waiting for title shots. Otherwise Valasquez vs Roy would be a good matchup that would be answer some questions about both fighters. JDS has earned a title shot and should stay on the shelf until he gets it.
That leaves Gonzaga, the fight I’d most like to see and the one I think is most appropriate too. Gonzaga is still a very dangerous, elite fighter, definitely a test for anyone. Gonzaga is also the guy who lasted the longest against Carwin and the only guy to give Carwin any trouble at all so far. Have lost his last fight as well as all of his biggest fights over the last few years he should have to take on an up and coming new fighter next. With JDS and Valasquez unavailable that pretty much leaves Roy.