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[Sakara=Excitement]

http://www.cagepotato.com/ufc-108-cu...yushenko-fight

And the curse keeps a-rollin', all night long: According to MMA Weekly, former WEC light-heavyweight champ Steve Cantwell has pulled out of his UFC 108 match against Vladimir Matyushenko for reasons that are unconfirmed at the moment. Cantwell joins Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga, Carlos Condit, Tyson Griffin, Rory Markham, and Sean Sherk in the list of fighters who have been removed from this Saturday's card due to health issues.

The UFC is currently looking for a replacement opponent to step in against Matyushenko. "The Janitor" was successful in his return to the Octagon at UFC 103, where he earned a unanimous decision victory against Igor Pokrajac. Cantwell had dropped his last two bouts against Luiz Cane and Brian Stann, both by decision.

Anybody ever heard of the Poltergeist curse? This is what UFC 108 feels like at this point. For the fighters who actually make it to the show intact, I fear that the horrors may be just beginning...


Update: Cantwell's management speaks to ProMMA.info:

“Steve Cantwell is not officially off the card. There has been a minor issue and we hope it will be resolved in the morning. Steve is still training and preparing for the bout. As always, special thanks to Steve’s sponsors Jaco, Silver Star, GammaO, Hayabusa and Punch Drunk Gamer.”

Maybe there is hope yet.

Does anyone think on some level that some of the fighters (many of them) are sitting out rather than fighting in a form of some sort of silent protest? We always hear about the lack of medical insurance, fighters paydays, etc, so with an unpresented number of fighters dropping out of fights, just figured it might be something. Now obviously there are some who are hurt. I dont know, maybe because the UFC is putting on so many shows meaning fighters fighting at a faster pace between their fights.

[KevoOnTheRadio]

Fight the power! Maybe Kos should meditate in the middle of the octogon and set himself on fire as a protest.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by KevoOnTheRadio

Fight the power! Maybe Kos should meditate in the middle of the octogon and set himself on fire as a protest.

I could only fucking hope so.

[Coonsht]

Fighters--especially the lower-tier ones-- need to fight to earn a living. There are other ways of having their voices heard than spiting themselves through failure to perform.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

I've been reading everywhere that Matyushenko's been pulled too from the card altogether.

IMO, Janitor deserves a bigger challenge anyways, but to pull him all together really boggles mymind and this card is probably the worst since Zuffa took over.

Jardine, Bader, Krystof or Bonnar would all be better challenges and to be honest, would also add a lil bit of star power.

This is the first card I won't watch all year.

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by Fedorlei Gomipierre

I've been reading everywhere that Matyushenko's been pulled too from the card altogether.

IMO, Janitor deserves a bigger challenge anyways, but to pull him all together really boggles mymind and this card is probably the worst since Zuffa took over.

Jardine, Bader, Krystof or Bonnar would all be better challenges and to be honest, would also add a lil bit of star power.

This is the first card I won't watch all year.

All year being only 2 days . J/p

[ckauffman28]

still watching regardless at a sports bar. next fight i will pay for is 110... im sure this one will surprise everyone just like all the other "this card sucks" cards have done in the past

[goodtimes]

While they lost a lot of fighters, the card still looks pretty good to me. Yvel/Dos Santos is an amazing match up imo, and Evans/Silva is really good as well, I don't really hold it against them that Machida KO'd them both in his 2 best performances of his career. Lauzon/Stout and Lauzon/Miller will both be very exciting, all 4 guys have great conditioning and fight at a fast pace. Almost every fight has at least 1 solid fighter in it.

[beau420]

List of fighters that were suppose to appear:
Anderson Silva
Vitor Belfort
Brock Lesnar
Shane Carwin
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Cain Velasquez
Gabriel Gonzaga
Carlos Condit
Tyson Griffin
Sean Sherk
Rory Markham
Steve Cantwell

That is crazy. I'm still going to watch, but definitely not was I was hoping for. I seriously think that no one wants to step up for fear of betting booted out the UFC if they lose.....sucks...Dana should tell replacement fighters (who only have 1 month notice or less) that they can't be let go. At least then guys might step up if they are only at 90 percent.....then again, what advantage do they have to fighting on a card where less fans will be watching....I guess they could still get a payday.