The UFC recently lost its planned TUF 17 Finale main event between Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga when news arose that Johnson could not compete due to injury. It didn’t take too long to find a replacement, as bantamweights Urijah Faber and Scott Jorgensen agreed to be the new main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. According to MMA Fighting, a bigger main event was previously considered between Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson.
The organization first approached featherweights Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson about headlining the show, but the fight never materialized after Swanson told the UFC he wasn’t healthy enough to take the fight.
“I’m still a little banged up from my fight with (Dustin) Poirier and five weeks isn’t enough time to prepare for a five-round fight,” Swanson wrote via text message.
From last night: Sources tell me the talk for the TUF 17 main event was Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson. Frankie was in so far as I know
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) February 28, 2013
Both Edgar and Swanson are medically suspended right now. Swanson is still on a mandatory 30 day layoff following his win over Dustin Poirier at UFC on Fuel 7 on February 16th, including 21 days of no-contact training. Edgar, who took even more damage in his loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 156, is suspended until at least April 4th, with no-contact in training until March 20th.
This doesn’t mean we won’t see this fight soon anyway. Assuming this matchup is made, it will presumably come at a much later date than April 13th.
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