UFC 146: Injuries Force Gonzaga and Dunham out, Herman and Varner in
By Chris Leslie on May 2, 2012
Injuries to Gabriel Gonzaga and Evan Dunham have, yet again, forced changes to UFC 146. Dave Herman and former-WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner have been tapped to replace the two injured fighters, respectively. The UFC announced the new match-ups earlier today.
Dave Herman was last in action at UFC on Fuel TV 1, a bout he lost to Stefan Struve. Herman will look to regain the momentum he had before the loss to Struve. That will prove a tough task as he will be facing fan-favorite Roy Nelson.
After an injury left Evan Dunham unable to fight at UFC 146, former WEC champion Jamie Varner will step in to face Edson Barboza. Varner has gone 3-1 since leaving Zuffa when the WEC was merged with the UFC.
UFC 146 will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champion Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir. The main card will feature an all heavyweight lineup for the first time in the modern history of the UFC.
For complete coverage of UFC 146, stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.
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I would watch Roy Nelson fight anybody, and herman could be a good matchup.
I would have liked to have seen Volkmann get Barboza though
Doubt Volkmann would take a fight like that on short notice – too much to lose, not enough to gain.
A guy like Varner will bring a good fight with a predictable style so Barboza won’t be caught totally off-guard, and Varner has nothing to lose and verything to gain (even with a loss).
I see ur point about time constraints, but I dont see how its to much to lose not enough to gain, they are both on like 4 or 5 fight win streaks and Barboza is comming off of one of the greatest KO’S ever. If he wins then he beat a guy that is undefeated and has more hype around him then Volkmann does.
And if he loses, he drops down and is farther from a title shot.b That works for both Volkmann and Barboza – but Barboza is the one signed to a fight on this card.
Varner is in a win-win even if he loses. If he wins, he’s immediately established in the UFC. If he loses, he’s in Dana’s good graces….in the UFC.
it should also pointed out that Volkmann is fighting Paul Sass, who is riding a 12-fight win-streak himself at 146… so if you moved Volkmann, you would then have two new contracts you would have to change as opposed to one.
yea or Volkmann steps in and wins over a guy with a lot of hype behind him or he loses and he is in good graces with dana for takin fight on short notice. But its beside my pt. that volkmann is a decision fighter(which in my book shouldn’t hurt u as bad as it does sometimes) and they are not giving him big names at all, so it would be to his benefit to fight him.
And i know he is already scheduled to fight paul sass next but they have switched up opponents in the past. So if Volkmann waits a longer amount of time to fight a lesser known fighter(maybe more dangerous of an opponent for his style too) and wins or loses how would that be more beneficial to him.
When on a long win streak, tis better to fight at the regularly scheduled time against a regularly scheduled opponent to continue said streak than risk a momentum destroying loss on short notice.