UFC 137: St-Pierre Out: A Look Back at the 2011 Fights That Could Have Been

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was set to take on Carlos Condit in less than two weeks at UFC 137.

Now St-Pierre will be out thanks to a knee injury.

St-Pierre is one of the long list of fighters who have been taken out of major fights this year thanks to injuries, opponents changes, or other issues.

Although fight changes are common in MMA, nearly every event this year has had a major fight taken off the card.

Here’s a look back at some of the fights that could have been. 

UFC 125

UFC 125 was the first event of the year.

Taking place January 1st, it was also the first event that had a major fight dropped from the card.

At one point Jose Aldo was suppose to defend his UFC featherweight title for the first time against Josh Grispi.

An injury forced Aldo out of the bout, and Grispi risked losing his number one contender spot by taking a fight against Dustin Poirier

Also taken off the card was a bout between heavyweights Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson. 

UFC 126

Jon Fitch and Jake Ellenberger are two of the welterweight division’s top contenders.

They were scheduled to meet at UFC 126, but Fitch was to the next card to face B.J. Penn.

Ellenberger remained on the card, defeating Carlos Eduardo Rocha. 

UFC 127

At UFC 127 UFC vet Chris Lytle was scheduled to meet dangerous fighter Carlos Condit.

A win for either man also could have had title implications for the future.

Instead Condit had to pull out of the fight with a knee injury.

Condit was replaced by a very experienced  Brian Ebersole.

Despite the loss of Condit, Ebersol and Lytle still up on a show winning fight of the night. 

UFC 128

The main event for UFC 128 was originally scheduled to be Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Rashad Evans.

Evans sat out nearly a year waiting for his title shot against an injured Rua.

Evans plan of waiting backfired though as he got hurt while training for the fight.

To make matters worse, Jon Jones, Evans’ training partner at the time took the fight in his place. 

Evans' missed opportunity led to Jones' rise to the UFC light heavyweight championship. 

Yoshihiro Akiyama was also scheduled to meet Nate Marquardt at this event, but had to pull out of the fight due to the tragedy in Japan. 

UFC Fight Night 24

Tito Ortiz was originally suppose to meet Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 128.

The bout was later moved to be the main event at UFC Fight Night 24.

Ortiz had to pull out of the fight thanks to a cut on his forehead and was replaced by up and comer Phil Davis.

Davis would win the fight, remaining undefeated. 

Ortiz is scheduled to meet Nogueira at UFC 140.

UFC 130

UFC 130 was supposed to be the third bout between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

After the two men fought to a draw after UFC 125, they were granted a rematch to settle the score.

Both men unfortunately sustained injuries during training and were forced to reschedule their fight.

Also scheduled on this card was Thiago Silva vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Silva was dropped from the card after failing a drug test and replaced by Matt Hamill. 

UFC 131

After coaching on season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos were set to meet at UFC 131.

The winner would challenge Cain Velasquez for the UFC heavyweight title.

Lesnar would have to drop out of the bout after having a recurring bout with diverticulitis.

Lesnar was replaced by former title contender Shane Carwin.

UFC Live 4

Anthony Johnson was scheduled to welcome Nate Marquardt to the welterweight division at UFC Live 4.

Johnson had to pull out of the event with an injury and was replaced by Rick Story.

Marquardt never made it to the event as he was fired from the UFC after not being medically cleared at weigh ins. 

UFC 132

At UFC 132 the rematch between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch was suppose to take place.

Instead both men withdrew from the card because of injuries.

Also scheduled on the card was Jason Miller making his return to the UFC against Aaron Simpson.

Miller was removed from the card after deciding to coach the Ultimate Fighter 14. 

UFC 133

UFC 133 was supposed to be the night Jon Jones defended the UFC light heavyweight title against former friend and teammate Rashad Evans.

Instead Jones dropped out of the bout with a hand injury.

Evans chose not wait around for his title shot like he did before and took a fight with Phil Davis.

Davis too was forced out of the bout with an injury and after brief talks of Lyoto Machida taking on Evans, Tito Ortiz stepped in on short notice to take the bout. 

UFC 135

Former UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes was set to take on Diego “The fighter formally known as dream and nightmare” Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC 135.

Instead Sanchez was forced out of the bout with a broken hand and was replaced with the returning Josh Koscheck.

Koscheck went on to knock out Hughes in the first round of their fight. 

UFC 137

What started out as a welterweight championship bout between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz is now no more.

Diaz and St-Pierre were set to meet up until Diaz was pulled from the bout due to missing a couple of press conferences.

Instead of pull the title fight all together, the UFC replaced Diaz with Carlos Condit.

Condit was originally supposed to meet B.J. Penn at the same event. Thanks to the move up to the main event, Condit was replaced by Diaz to face Penn.

With St-Pierre now off the card, Condit will sit out and Penn vs. Diaz has now been moved to the main event slot.

Could anything else go wrong with this main event? Let’s hope not. 

UFC 139

Cung Le and Vitor Belfort are known for their knock outs.

Although Le has far less experience than Belfort he came into MMA with plenty of kick boxing experience.

Le, a former Strikeforce middleweight champion, was set to make his UFC debut against Belfort at UFC 139.

Thanks to Belfort pulling out of the fight, Le is now set to take on another dangerous Brazilian striker, Wanderlei Silva. 

UFC 140

Jon Jones and Rashad Evans make the list again.

This time Evans was forced out of the bout with a hand injury.

Last week Dana White made the announcement that Jones would instead take on Lyoto Machida in the main event from Toronto.