In the first bout announced for UFC 133, rumored to take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on August 6th, middleweights Alessio Sakara and Jorge Rivera will finally collide after two previous attempts to book the matchup.
Injuries continue to plague the UFC on Versus 3 card, scheduled for March 3rd in Louisville, Kentucky. Rafael Natal and Franscisco Rivera have both pulled out of their respective bouts with Alessio Sakara and Takeya Mizugaki, according to recent reports from MMA Junkie and Versus.com. There have not yet been any updates concerning replacement opponents for Sakara and Mizugaki. The event has already seen Mark Scanlon, Maiquel Falcao, Matt Riddle, Alexandre Ferreira, and Paulo Thiago all bow out of scheduled bouts. UFC on Versus 3 coverage
A few days ago, UFC middleweight Jorge Rivera announced that he would be forced to withdraw from his UFC 118 bout with Alessio Sakara due to an injury sustained in training. Today, "El Conquistador" shares some more bad news with the Boston Herald's Dan Duggan: Jorge Rivera immediately knew he had seriously injured his left arm. During a recent training session at Tim Burrill Jiu Jitsu, Rivera attempted a takedown and his grappling partner, Radhames Familia, sprawled on his arm. Rivera heard a snap and knew he was in trouble. The result was a broken ulna, one of the two bones in the forearm... Rivera initially hoped that he’d be ready to return to action in late September or October, but he’ll get a better idea of the timetable after a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday. "I was hoping that I would be able to let it heal," the Milford native said. "I had no idea how much went into recovery. It’s nowhere near what I thought it was like. So it’s just going to take me a lot longer than I would have hoped... It sucks... It’s very disappointing to walk away from fighting in Boston."
