Once again, a highly anticipated UFC fight has fallen victim to the “injury bug” as Rousimar Palhares has injured his knee and been forced to pull out of his UFC 150 bout with Yushin Okami. This marks the second time Okami’s opponent for the card has changed.
Here’s Fighter’s Only with info on the injury:
The Brazilian middleweight suffered damage to his knee and will be sidelined for some time, his coach Murilo Bustamante told Fighters Only today.
He may even require surgery to fix the damage, which is likely to be ligament-related.
“He got an injury in his knee during the camp. Bad luck. He is out of action for while. After next two weeks we will know for sure if he’ll need a surgery,” Bustamante said.
Okami was originally set to fight Luiz Cane, but that fight was scrapped after a Cane injury.
Okami’s new opponent will be Buddy Roberts.
Roberts was set to compete on the card against Chris Camozzi, but Camozzi was injured also and forced to pull out of the bout. Given that the men are competing at the same weight, on the same card, the UFC just matched up Okami and Roberts in a fight that has to be seen as a huge downgrade in terms of noteriety.
Roberts did look very good in his ability to beat up on Caio Magalhaes in his UFC debut in June, but Okami is a huge step up for him. A win would certainly put him on the map, but he’ll likely enter the evening as a considerable underdog.