Shogun to have Knee Surgery

[jmt225]

It's being reported that Shogun will have knee surgery soon. If it goes perfectly, then he'll still be able to fight Rashad Evans by the end of the year, or early 2011. If it for some reason doesn't go as planned, then he could be out for a long period of time, which I'm sure we'll then get an Interim Title situation.

So, with that said, if Shogun is to be out for a long period of time, how would you handle the situation?

Obviously, Rashad Evans is next in line for a title shot, real or Interim, no matter what, so you have to include him. But, who in the World could his opponent be, if there needs to be an Interim Title match?

I think the most obvious answer is matching Machida vs. Rampage up sometime in September or October, with the winner of that getting Rashad Evans sometime in January or February. However, that might cause some problems. For one, I'm not sure how much Rampage wants to fight Machida. He's barking right now about fighting Forrest, even though it's all but guaranteed that his next opponent will be Lyoto Machida. Secondly, no matter who wins between Machida/Rampage, who ever ends up fighting Rashad it will be their 2nd fight against him. Now, I'm sure Rashad wants another crack at Machida, but do fans want to see it? Also, how bad does Rashad want to fight Rampage again? I doubt much at all.

So, a bunch of questions are raised if Shogun indeed goes out for a long period of time. What are your answers to them?

 

[Buffalo Dave]

UFC president Dana White on Thursday revealed that Evans’ next opponent, light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, had to undergo knee surgery following his win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.

“He had the surgery in L.A. He’s gonna do all his therapy in Vegas. So he’s gonna be in Vegas for the next five weeks,” White told MMAWeekly.com.

Shogun will undergo the aforementioned five weeks of rehabilitation in Las Vegas, then start looking towards a date with Evans.

White told MMAWeekly.com that he was unsure when Shogun would be clear to return, but indicated that it wouldn’t take long, pointing out that Shogun had his appendix taken out four weeks prior to the Machida fight.

This sucks, just as he is fully healthy he gets injured again. Since he already has had the surgery, I guess Shogun will have to wait untill after the 5 weeks of rehab to see where his knee is at, then he will probably have a timetable of when he can return.

If it turns out to be serious and the UFC needs an interim light heavyweight champion, then Rampage/Machida needs to happen very soon. So the winner can face Rashad some time in the fall. I'm sure Rampage would put aside his desire to face Griffin to fight Machida, then to go on for a title shot in a rematch against Evans. But if they can't get nothing going with a purposed Rampage/Machida bout, then you might have to scrap the Couture/Toney fight and let Couture fight Evans for the interim belt. Then theres always putting Lil Nog's name in the mix as well for a possible opponent for Evans as well. So there is definitely some options out there. I'm hoping Dana is right and that the knee heals rather quickly and we don't need the interim belt, let's just hope Shogun doesn't rush back so we can see a great fight between him and Evans.

 

[Minor League Brian]

As much as I don't want to see Forrest get dominated, but Rampage needs to fight someone like Forrest. Rampage needs to get that spark back and just start wailing on kids. He's been far too timid in his last few fights for my tastes.

At this point who do we even have who can go for the title? Machida and Evans are the only 2 with any right at the moment. I'd say Evans SHOULD have to fight Machida again to get a shot at the belt, however we know that won't happen. Griffin needs another win or 2. Rampage needs to get back to being Rampage. Liddell and Franklin aren't ME material. Thiago Silva is Opening for Liddell/Franklin for some stupid ass reason. Hmmm. I'd do it like this, if Shogun can't fight for awhile.

I'd put Lil Nog up against Rampage. I know Jackson just lost and Nog just won, but Nog's beaten lesser competition and Rampage lost to one of the better LHW's in the UFC. It wouldn't be terrible. From there I'd put up Machida vs. Evans rematch and from there have the 2 winners fight each other. Hell, cut Rampage and Nog out of it and just schedule Machida to fight Evans and that'd buy you almost a year (if you want) before Shogun would have to fight again.