In the least surprising news of this year, best UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is hurt. Based on reports, Nurmagomedov has been forced to pull from his Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale co-headlining bout against Tony Ferguson because of a rib injury. As of now, nothing is set in stone, although there are talks of Edson Barboza stepping in to replace him. That makes it the third right fight Nurmagomedov hasn’t been able to see completion. It began with a planned UFC 178 battle against Donald Cerrone which”The Eagle” was pressured out of following a knee injury. He reaggravated the knee when the bout was rescheduled for UFC 187 and he’s out of his December fight. Nurmagomedov hasn’t fought because a unanimous decision victory over now-UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos. Depending on the length of time it takes for him to recuperate from this rib blow off, he is on over a yearlong break before he sees that the Octagon . Ross Pearson vs. Francisco Trinaldo — UFC Fight Night 81 While one UFC bout was cancelled, another was announced as recent winners Ross Pearson and Francisco Trinaldo are supposed to throw in Boston this upcoming January. Pearson was victorious in his final bout over Paul Felder via unanimous decision despite being a hefty underdog. Trinaldo did the exact same thing, winning as a dog that is huge this August through first round TKO Chad Laprise. This is a fight that is fairly evenly matched, but Trinaldo has more momentum. The Brazilian has won four consecutive spells and is coming from the best victory of his career while Pearson has been not able to string any wins together in his last eight fights. Even though Pearson has more name recognition, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Trinaldo open because the slight betting popular this time around because of his recent series of success.

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