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Heavy.com reports:

Recently published reports indicated that Carwin had undergone knee surgery to fix an ailing knee while waiting for Brock Lesnar to recuperate from his bout with mononucleosis. Carwin did undergo an MRI, which came back as a grade II MCL strain. Carwin was told not to do any grappling for three weeks, which made him unavailable for UFC 108. He is available to fight on any card after UFC 108, but with Brock Lesnar out for an unknown amount of time, Carwin remains in limbo.

This is a relief. The UFC has been utterly cursed recently -- look at this list of announced headlining fights:

• UFC 106 Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin
• UFC 107 Rampage Jackson vs Rashad Evans
• UFC 108 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez

Alas, fate and The A-Team movie have intervened.

Hopefully, Carwin and Velasquez will get to have the fight that was originally scheduled for UFC 104. It may very well be for the interim heavyweight title if the reports about Brock Lesnar are true.

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MMA Junkie talks to Ed Soares:

"The latest is he's not fighting Jan. 2," Soares said. "That's not going to happen. He won't be ready."

Silva recently had bone spurs removed from his right elbow, and the rehabilitation necessary following the procedure means Silva won't be ready to defend his title in a proposed UFC 108 matchup with Vitor Belfort.

As for when Silva will be ready to fight again, Soares said nothing is yet certain.

"We have to wait and see," Soares said. "Anderson went back to Brazil, and he's continuing his physical therapy there. But there's no set date yet."

Those who have been following the saga of Anderson Silva's elbow may take a more cynical perspective.

Zak Woods had summed up the saga pretty well a couple of weeks back:

MMA Live was the first to report that Anderson Silva would undergo elbow surgery. Then Kevin Iole talked to Silva's manger, Ed Soares, who said that Silva did not need elbow surgery. Then UFC president, Dana White, confirmed that Anderson would in fact undergo surgery.

Are you dizzy yet?

Despite the surgery it was then announced that Silva would defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 108.

On his radio show last night (subscription required and recommended), Dave Meltzer said Dana White wants the Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua rematch on UFC 108. Meltzer also stated that Shogun has agreed to the date, and Machida will let them know if he's healthy enough to take it.

They want to return quickly with Machida/Shogun because the controversy is hot right now and if they can make a rematch announcement soon, they can assuage fan anger and channel it into PPV buys.  If UFC 108 has Lesnar-Carwin, Machida-Shogun, and Evans-Silva, the show should break the million buy mark.  

They won't do Lesnar-Carwin, Machida-Shogun, and Anderson-Vitor on the same card, because they'd have almost nothing for their shows at the beginning of next year, and they won't overload New Year's.

It may be a mistake for Machida to take a rematch so soon.  There's just no way he can get a full training camp in given the beating he took Saturday night and the time he'll need to recover before he can train at full speed.

This is a good example of a situation where what is best for business diverges from what is best for the sport.  The best thing for business is to put this rematch on as soon as possible to strike while the iron's hot.  But at the same time, I don't think anyone wants to see Machida lose because he's injured and unable to train.  I think the best course of action is to do Lesnar-Carwin and Sliva-Belfort on this show, and delay Shogun-Machida until the Superbowl show.

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From Shane Carwin's Twitter account:

I just heard from Jason. Looks like it is posponed till Jan 2. I had h1ni myself and I understand how devastaing it can be.

Looks like the UFC just got it's New Year's show main event squared away.  Now the UFC is much less dependent on Anderson Silva's elbow and/or willingness to take on Vitor Belfort.

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It wasn't that long ago that the middleweight division had once again began to pick up steam.  Sure, Anderson Silva was still the clear top dog but Dan Henderson had re-established himself as a legitimate threat to any fighter on the planet, Nate Marquardt became a more complete fighter, and Vitor Belfort was only a win over Rich Franklin away from putting himself in line for a title shot.  And this doesn't even get into guys like Demian Maia who are "down the road" potential challengers or Yushin Okami who just needed to stay healthy and pick up a couple wins.

Of course then everything went to hell.  Anderson Silva and manager Ed Soares made it clear that they weren't interested in fighting Marquardt or Henderson until one defeated the other in a title eliminator.  On the other side of the fence was Hendo himself who made it clear that he was the number one contender and had no interest in fighting a title eliminator against Nate.  As it became more and more obvious that the UFC wanted Anderson to get in the ring with one of the two men (thereby not ruining another potential challenger with an eliminator bout) news came out that Anderson Silva had undergone elbow surgery.  To MMA conspiracy theorists this did seem like a nice way to force the UFC into a title eliminator between Nate and Dan while the champ recovered.

Of course, a few days later when talk of a potential Randy Couture/Anderson Silva bout started making the rounds out came Ed Soares to clarify that no, Anderson did not go under the knife and was perfectly willing to take a fight with Randy Couture.

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Photo by Tracy Lee at Combat Lifestyle

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Steven Marrocco gets the story for MMA Weekly:

(Anderson Silva's manager Ed) Soares maintains a title eliminator between Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson is the most logical idea for Silva's next contender, given their recent victories and Henderson's 2007 win over Belfort in PRIDE Fighting Championships. He first pitched the idea to White following UFC 102 in August, but White did not commit.

They also are complaining since Belfort had trouble making 195lbs for his UFC 103 fight against Rich Franklin:

Soares believes Belfort's weight issues may persist should his fighter accept the fight.

"Vitor has not fought in the UFC at 185 pounds," he said. "Now, I know people can say Anderson fought for the belt after one fight, and that's true, but he fought at 185 pounds. At 195 pounds, he didn't make weight, at first. So he couldn't make weight at 195 pounds, but now he's going to fight for the title at 185 pounds?"

On top of that, Silva's elbow surgery apparently discovered more complications and may prevent Anderson from fighting at UFC 108 at all:

"It's doctor's decision," he added in English. "My elbow is hurt, but doctor Chad says come back to training, come back to fight."

On Wednesday, the champion is scheduled to begin physical therapy after getting his surgery stitches removed. Soares says a decision on Silva's fight-readiness will be made in 10 days.

From my perspective this is just more mischief from Silva and Soares.

Check some of their other antics:

• Ed Soares: Anderson Silva Didn't Get Elbow Surgery
• Anderson Silva Wants to Fight at Heavyweight
• Anderson Silva's Manager Denies Silva Is Giving Up His Middleweight Belt
• Anderson Silva and Dana White Have a Philosophical Difference

UFC 108 Coverage