Yanking out the Rug: When Fighters Pull Out

    I was contacted by Zander Freund a few days ago to write an article on the upcoming Strikeforce Event this Saturday. He said that the main two fights that he thought could use some analysis were the Joey Villasenor v. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Jake Shields v. Drew Fickett fights. Unfortunately, by the time I had read the request, both fights were already off the card. Shields had been injured in training and Santos was having visa issues that prevented him from coming to the show.

    Now Nick Diaz is off the show as well, for "late medicals." More or less the situation breaks down like this; the California State Athletic Commission saw that Diaz had a medical license for marijuana and immediately suspended him from the card, apparently without testing him, although Diaz did make this known only three days from the event. This is not the first time the Cesar Gracie black belt and former UFC welterweight has crossed paths with the CSAC; he had the biggest win of his career (submitting then-Pride Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi at Pride 33) taken away, also for failing his drug test.

    Now Diaz's opponent, Jae Suk Lim, is currently left without an opponent, as is Drew Fickett. Villasenor would be in the same boat had former UFC fighter Ryan Jensen not stepped up. While I respect the guts of any fighter willing to step up and fight top competition at the last minute, it rarely does wonders for one's win-loss record. Just yesterday, Chael Sonnen was dropped from the main event slot of World Extreme Cagefighting's show and relegated to the undercard, when his opponent, WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho dropped out of the card, citing depression and entrance to a substance abuse rehab program.

    There are many angles from which to consider these situations; for all the parties involved. For a promoter, this can be a nightmare. Advertising for a fight card goes out sometimes months in advance, and a "card subject to change" clause buried in the small print does little to appease fans who sometimes (particularly those not online) don't even realize that anything has happened until the card begins. Free television (or relatively free, if you consider Showtime) is one thing, but what about Pay Per View, or even live attendance? Fans can be sorely disappointed and feel burned by even their favorite fighters. MMA fans in particular can be a cruel and fickle bunch if they don't buy into a fighter's "excuses" for pulling out.

    For someone following a particular fighter's career closely, it can be especially maddening. I myself, for example, am a fan of Nick Diaz, but his last string of fights and circumstances has been increasingly frustrating. Diaz is no stranger to controversy; we're talking about a guy who once was upset enough over a loss in a three-rounder against Joe Riggs that he literally started round four at the hospital in a post-fight brawl. But the roller coaster that he has been on lately is nothing short of dumbfounding: he won the aforementioned Gomi fight, then had it overturned to a No Contest.

    After this, he fought journeyman Mike Aina in EliteXC, winning a decision but looking terrible in the process. It later came out that he was fighting with a severe staph infection that he either didn't know about or didn't bother to tell anyone (more on that later).

    Following that, he fought KJ Noons for the Elite XC title, and even though many people saw it as an easy win for the submission and boxing specialist, Diaz lost via cut TKO. Back to the drawing board, Diaz had plastic surgery to remove the scar tissue on his oft-sliced forehead, potentially removing a major weakness from his game. And now the CSAC debacle...one wonders if there will ever again be a fight without extenuating circumstances that actually allows one to gauge his current abilities.

     Too often this is the case when MMA athletes have a potentially hazardous condition or injury; do they pull out of the fight and risk the ire of fans and promoters, or do they go ahead with it and risk a loss and potential further injury? Joe Riggs found out the hard way last month when a throw from EliteXC opponent Cory Devela aggravated an injury in his back so badly that he tapped out at just 1:22 of the first round from the pain. Riggs has now had corrective surgery, and said he feels like a new man. Very similar words were spoken by former UFC HW Champ Tim Sylvia when he had his back repaired after his five-round drubbing by Randy Couture. The "Maine-iac" did mention the injury in passing after the fight, and was showered with boos for it, but since the fans seem to hate Sylvia no matter what he does, he probably would have been better served by simply postponing the fight. Post-surgery he certainly had some renewed spring in his step when he ground out a 3-round decision over HW hot prospect Brandon Vera and ouboxed former Pride HW Champ Minotauro Nogueira for two rounds before falling prey to a nasty submission.

    Therein lies the problem; many fighters, particularly those fighting so hard for acceptance, as Sylvia seems to be perpetually doing, are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

    Also coming into play is the issue of money; some pro fighters are not paid nearly as well as the big names, and putting off the payday for three months is not always an option.

    Personally, I think fighter safety trumps everything else, as well as actually being able to find out who the best man truly is, and going into a fight with an injury is not the way to determine that. In a  prime example of this, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fought Forrest Griffin last September on a bad knee that reportedly affected his ability to train cardio very seriously and restricted his movement so much that Rua, widely considered the #1 light heavyweight in the world at that point, lost every round to the relatively unheralded Ultimate Fighter star, losing by a rear naked choke in the closing seconds of the third stanza.

    So while others may boo, I applaud Shields, who said he considered trying to tough out the injury and fight, until his manager (and father) Jack Shields talked him out of it. A problem as serious as depression and substance abuse cannot go ignored, even in the macho world of combat sports, and so I salute Paulo Fihlo as well. Cyborg Santos' circumstances seem well beyond his control, so there is no reason to be angry at the fighter or the promoter for that particular disappointment. And as for Nick Diaz, well...who knows?