Fight Wrap: Mir Out of UFC 98, Diaz-Marquez Wage War, UFC 96 Tonight, More

It's been a busy 24 hours for those of us following the story that broke Friday afternoon that Frank Mir was going to have to pull out of his UFC 98 rematch/Heavyweight title unification match against Brock Lesnar due to a knee injury.

Then, UFC President Dana White said he hadn't heard anything to that effect and as far as he was concerned, the May 23 fight was still on.

But Mir ended all speculation while at the Arnold Fitness Expo in Columbus, Ohio, Friday night, telling an Internet bodybuilding show that he had to postpone the bout due to surgery on his right knee last week.

The surgery was to repair damage to his meniscus, the same leg he injured in his much-publicized motorcycle accident years ago.

Mir said he hopes to be able to train in four to six weeks and do the Lesnar fight in the summertime. The UFC has yet to confirm or comment, but putting it on UFC 100 in July seems pretty obvious to me.

UFC 96 is live Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio, headlined by Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (29-7) taking on Keith Jardine (14-5-1).

White said Friday that if Jackson wins, he will get a Light Heavyweight title shot against Rashad Evans. If Jackson loses, Lyoto Machida will be next in line for a title shot.

One comment I did love from White regarding Evans and Jardine saying they would never fight each other even if they kept winning:

“He says they won’t, but I guarantee you they will, and we’ll be making the Rashad Evans/Keith Jardine fight. What happens if Rashad holds the title for the next three years? I’m sure they’re not that good of friends. He’s going to have to get his shot here soon.”

Tremendous and 100 percent accurate. You can't have two top guys saying they don't want to fight each other, it's a buzzkill for a promoter. Say what you will about White, but he's not above making two friends get in there...or else.

Other fights on the card include:

—Gabriel Gonzaga (10-3-1) vs. Shane Carwin (10-0). This is a heavyweight clash that will tell a lot about how the rest of the year in the UFC's heaviest division will go. Carwin is seen as a rising star, while Gonzaga is looking for another highlight reel knockout that will give him a title shot.

If Gonzaga can get the win, I think he'll be in line for the winner of Lesnar/Mir. A Carwin victory could get him the loser of Mir/Lesnar, but more likely someone on his level so they don't burn out the flame too quick.

—Pete Sell (8-5) vs. Matt Brown (11-7). It's hard to believe that Sell has fewer pro fights than Brown. It feels like he's been around a lot longer.

—Matt Hamill (7-2) vs. Mark Munoz (5-0). There's a lot of buzz about the potential of this battle of young 205ers with great wrestling backgrounds. This will be Munoz' UFC debut after the WEC divisional merger.

—Gray Maynard (7-0-1) vs. Jim Miller (13-1). Words like gritty, steel, dirty and blue collar come to mind in looking at this fight. These two are going to work—add a lunchpail/hard hat/workboots analogy here.

For the rest of the 10-fight card, including what could be stay-or-go bouts by Brandon Vera and Kendall Grove, here you go.

I just watched the boxing match everyone's been talking about from last Saturday featuring Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz. Trust me— it's worth the hype people have been giving it.

If you're an HBO subscriber, it's in your On Demand under Sports/Boxing. I won't give away who wins in case you haven't seen it, but it's worth your 45 minutes. Just try to ignore the "boxing is back" sell jobs from Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman throughout the broadcast.

I also finally caught up on last Sunday's WEC 39. All in all, I thought it was a good show but there was one fight that did really suck. Here are some quick notes and results from the show in case you missed it, a show that drew 6,100 fans in Corpus Christi, Texas, with a live gate of $297,990.

—Featherweight Champion Mike Brown defeated Leonard Garcia via submission at 1:57 of the first round: There couldn't have been more of a dichotomy between the two as Garcia entered to "Let Me Clear My Throat" to Brown's "Simple Man."

Brown connected with a right hand and pounced on an overwhelmed Garcia, bloodying him up and eventually snaring him in a head/arm choke.

He is a freakin' beast and his eventual rematch against Urijah Faber should be great. Hopefully, we won't have to pay for it as the internal push for the WEC's debut on PPV is gaining steam. Brown earned an extra $7500 for Submission of the Night.

—Ricardo Lamas def. Bart Palaszewski via unanimous decision: All three judges scored the bout 30-27 for Lamas who pulled off the big upset considering he took the fight on five days notice and only had five pro fights on his record to Bart's 41. Entertaining fight that was a nice change of pace from the quick KOs the rest of the night.

—Damacio Page def. Marcos Galvao via KO :18 into the first round: Right hand...right hand...right hand. Page wins via :18 into the fight with a hard knockout of Galvao who was never in this. Page earned $7500 for Knockout of the Night.

—Jose Aldo def. Chris Mickles by TKO (punches) at 1:39 of the first round. Aldo continued his march toward a Featherweight title shot with a decimation of Mickles using a hard knee followed by unanswered punches.

At the end, Aldo teased a leap outside the cage like he did following his last win but sat down and crossed his arms like a child instead. Only hardcore WEC fans would get what he was doing, so this came across as very strange and lame instead.

—Rob McCullough defeated Marcus Hicks via unan decision: Other than the second round, this fight was amazingly disappointing. Both guys seemed scared to throw punches and during the second round, the ref said that if they didn't engage, he was going to call a no-contest. Ouch. As a former champion, I'm having a tough time figuring out McCullough and what his deal is at this point. For a young fighter in Hicks, this was a terrible way to get your first loss.

—Fight of the Night went to the unaired Johny Hendricks unanimous decision over Alex Serdyukov.

In a match of former WWE champions in the MMA world, it was announced that Bobby Lashley will take on Ken Shamrock to headline a boxing/MMA card on March 21st in Pensacola, FL. The PPV event also features Kimbo killa Seth Petruzelli vs. former WECer Doug Marshall, IFL alum Roy Nelson vs. anarchist Jeff Monson and event promoter Roy Jones Jr. taking on Omar Sheika on the co-main event.

Josh Nason — josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!