Diego Sanchez out of UFC 135; Who should be his replacement?

[CapnKabuki]

Dana White (@danawhite) on Twitter - "Diego Sanchez broke his hand. Looking for a replacement for Hughes."

Bit of breaking news here, as Dana White just confirmed via Twitter that Diego Sanchez is out of his fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 135. I don't think this is necessarily a huge blow to the card as a whole, as the main focus has and always will be Bones vs. Rampage, but it's still a blow to it nonetheless.

Who do you guys think should replace Diego, especially on such short notice? My first thought was that Jon Fitch would replace him, but then I remembered that he won't be medically cleared to fight until UFC 139. The only options that I can think of other than Fitch would be either Rory Macdonald or Brian Ebersole. Think about it, both guys are rising up the rankings, both came out of their last fights relatively unhurt I believe, both on two fight win streaks, and a win over Hughes would do wonders for their careers and title aspirations. The only problem I see with these two taking this fight is that they just fought not so long ago, and I'm sure they don't want to hurt their chances of getting a title shot with a loss, all because they were unprepared for Hughes.

Simple, just discuss who you think would be a suitable replacement for Diego and why. Give as many possible replacements as you like, just give the explanations for each.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well, according to Twitter, Matt Hughes new opponent is Josh Koscheck and personally I cannot fucking wait. It's no secret that I am a Koscheck supporter and have been for some time. I have also wanted to see this fight go down since Hughes started ducking the AKA boys. This fight isn't official yet, Hughes has to agree to fight Koscheck but it appears that Kos is the guy the UFC wants to fill in for Diego. And I really hope Hughes signs on so Koscheck can knock his ass out.

 

[CapnKabuki]

If that fight does come to fruition, I'll be rooting for Kos as well. Yes, he's a dick and whatnot, but hey, he most of the time backs it up...if their name isn't GSP, but that happens with everybody. Either way, I really want to see this fight. The only reason I didn't suggest Kos was because I heard that he was going to fight at 185 for his next fight, but this is a waaay better fight. Hopefully Hughes signs on like you said.

 

[JWGunslinger]

If that fight does come to fruition, I'll be rooting for Kos as well. Yes, he's a dick and whatnot, but hey, he most of the time backs it up...if their name isn't GSP, but that happens with everybody. Either way, I really want to see this fight. The only reason I didn't suggest Kos was because I heard that he was going to fight at 185 for his next fight, but this is a waaay better fight. Hopefully Hughes signs on like you said.

You do know that Koscheck isn't really a dick right? He plays one and acts full of himself to be entertaining and get a reaction. Ask anyone who's met him and they will tell you he's one of the cooler more laid back fighters out there, I had the pleasure of meeting him recently and next to Mike Pyle I've never met a cooler fighter.
On the subject of him fighting Hughes I think it's an excellent replacement fight, frankly I'm more interested in this than Hughes vs Sanchez. The end result is obvious unless Matt pull pulls out a win like his fight with Almeida, but if he's going to try to stay in the elite then he has to take these fights. I love both Kos and Hughes, as long as it isn't a snoozefest I won't be too upset seeing one lose.

 

[CapnKabuki]

Brainfart completely incapacitated my ability to separate gimmick from the actual guy for a second. My bad haha