MMAVu

They keep dropping line flies for UFC 98. The latest casualty is Houston Alexander, who suffered a broken hand while training. This makes the casualty count…6 I believe. Yushin Okami, Quinton Jackson, James Irvin, Frank Mir and Josh Koscheck were all at one point scheduled to be on this card.

This harkens back to the UFC 85 card, where it was originally supposed to be Liddell vs Shogun, then Liddell vs Evans, then finally changed to Matt Hughes vs Thiago Alves. It’s a good thing the UFC has a deep roster to fill these sudden changes. This news comes on the heels of all the other changes to the card.

The truth of the matter is that Alexander has lost his last three fights emphatically, after exploding onto the scene in 2007. This was likely Alexander’s last chance with the UFC. No one, save Patrick Cote, loses four fights in a row and stays with the company. It should be noted that Cote did win some fights during TUF 4, making it to the finals of the show. This just buys Alexander some more time…but things aren’t look for the charismatic, 37yr old, single father with one kidney who also DJs and talks to troubled youth. On second thought, the UFC should keep this guy around just because he is such a great story…

Here’s the card as it stands now:

Main event:

UFC L205lb Champion Rashad Evans (13-0-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (14-0)

Main card

170 lbs: Matt Hughes (42-7) vs. Matt Serra (9-5)
185 lbs: Xavier Foupa-Pokum (20-10) vs. Drew McFedries (7-5)
185 lbs: Chael Sonnen (21-10-1) vs. Dan Miller (11-1)
155 lbs: Sean Sherk (33-3) vs. Frank Edgar (9-1)

Prelims:

170 lbs: Brock Larson (25-2) vs. Chris Wilson (14-5)
265 lbs: Tim Hague (9-1) vs. Patrick Barry (4-0)
155 lbs: Phillipe Nover (5-1-1) vs. Kyle Bradley (13-6)
185 lbs: Andre Gusmao (5-1) vs. TBD
170 lbs: Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-3) vs. Brandon Wolff (7-3)
155 lbs: Dave Kaplan (2-2) vs. George Roop (8-4)