The injury bug is always around and lately it seems to be equivalent in function to the UFC’s promotional process as fights seem to change daily due to injuries. The TRT and testosterone problems are another big factor in the world of mma as well. Between both of these factors, fighters seem to be having to reschedule fights more often.
Fighters are not only losing fights they earned, but now it seems if you lose your title fight as a number one contender, you now have to earn it back. First it started with Alistair Overeem losing his heavyweight title shot against Junior Dos Santos. Then Overeem believed he could run his mouth to get back in the mix, it won’t, you have lost your shot, for now.
Erik “New Breed” Koch technically never earned his title shot at the featherweight champion Jose Aldo, but he did step up when no one else would and was the number one contender until getting injured himself.
Frankie Edgar stepped up for the injured fighter, then the champ injures himself leaving Koch in the dust. Edagr is now waiting for a shot in a weight-class he has yet to fight in, while Koch now will return healthy with the task of re-earning his title shot.
Rumors are surfacing about Dan Henderson having to fight his way back to #1 contendership through Lyoto Machida after injuring himself which lead to the first canceled event in UFC history. This was the one I have the most problems with. If you’re going to cancel an entire event due to injury, then that fight should take place as soon as said fighter is healed and ready to perform.
These fighters might be training too hard and some might be to old (sorry Hendo), but they are doing it for their company and Dana White. They should not be punished for getting ready for wars in the octagon. If a fighter loses their number one contendership, the next fight back in the cage should be for the title shot they earned.