MMA Newsday: Lesnar Update, Couture-Coleman, Overlooked Brown-Aldo Fight
Are you ready for another MMA event?
What? You didn't know WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown was fighting Jose Aldo Wednesday night? More on this in a few minutes.
The biggest news story in MMA—UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's health— didn't have any real juicy layers added today. The latest update is that Lesnar had minor surgery this week to help resolve a bacterial infection in his intestines.
This may or may not be the medical issue that could cause Lesnar's career to end prematurely, but as of right now, everyone is still staying pretty quiet.
There is obviously no timetable for his return or announcement of a retirement until he gets better—the key component being the definition of "better" in this situation. This couldn't come at a worse time for the UFC, as they have a ton of events in 2010 and their biggest PPV draw may have to call it quits.
With this, the Rampage Jackson situation, and the rest of the top draws resting from injuries and surgeries, the world's largest MMA organization is facing something they haven't had to deal with in quite some time—adversity.
If Lesnar was to hang it up, it would be a huge blow.
But there's something telling me that we haven't seen the last of the Minnesota mauler in the Octagon. Not by a long shot. It just will probably be a while.
No word on whether we're getting an interim heavyweight champion, but it's being considered. I'd find it hard to believe that we won't see Cain Velasquez vs. Shane Carwin for the gold sometime in the spring.
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Who wants a legends match? According to Sherdog , fans will get to "enjoy" hall-of-famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman doing battle against each other in a 205 tilt at February's UFC 109 in Las Vegas. Ugh. The combined ages here? 90. Seriously, what is going on here?
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I read this column by Five Ounces of Pain's Cory Brady with the opinion that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski is a hot free agent right now for either the UFC or Strikeforce. I love 5 Oz., but no, he's not.
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Finally, there is the odd case of WEC 44 taking place Wednesday night, an ill-timed card considering the massive amount of MMA we have in November. Normally, Featherweight Champion Mike Brown vs. the exciting Jose Aldo would be a big deal, but it's nearly completely lost other than for the hardcores.
There was ZERO promotion for this during last week's UFC 105, and overall it got lost in the shuffle which is a damn shame. (I guess this Saturday's UFC 106 is more important in the long run, but maybe putting three freaking shows on in one week is a little overkill, no?)
Your card for tomorrow night, previewed in full by my bud E. Spencer Kyte at Keyboard Kimura:
- Featherweight Champion Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo: I see Brown winning this in the 3rd via TKO. Aldo is awesome, but he's not at the Urijah Faber level yet and Brown handled Faber not once, but twice. Aldo vs. Faber? Now THAT would be fun.
- Leonard Garcia vs. Manny Gamburyan: This is an interesting one as Gamburyan is coming off a successful unanimous decision WEC debut win in June and is looking to throw his name in the hat for a title shot down the road, while Garcia is coming off a split decision win in August, one fight removed from his destruction at the hands of Brown.
- Rob McCullough vs. Karen Darabedyan: Darabedyan is riding a six-fight win streak and will make his WEC debut against the suddenly blase McCullough who is 2-2 in his last four. I'm not sure what to make of the "Razor" anymore, but Wednesday night will tell a lot.
- Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller: The 8-1 Castillo takes on the 6-2 Roller in what should be a fun fight. Both can finish in a variety of ways, but this is a coin flip. Castillo has won three in a row.
There are also six matches on the undercard, so expect to see some bonus action if the four main fights go quickly. I just wish this and the December WEC card were combined and taking place next month as Brown/Aldo deserves better. Here's hoping they put on a memorable performance!
Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling, and boxing blog Ropes, Ring, and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio . Follow him on Twitter .


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