Shane Carwin withdraws from UFC 125 due to injury
Shane Carwin has had to withdraw from his upcoming fight against Roy “Big Country” Nelson due to a back injury. Carwin and Nelson were scheduled to be the co-main event on the Ultimate
Fighting Championship 125 card. UFC 125 will take place on 1 January 2011 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Carwin posted the following on his website on Tuesday morning, “I am going to pull out of the fight with Roy Nelson. As many of you know I have been having some back pain. I had an MRI
yesterday and I have some damage that may really require surgery. If the doctors do not have to perform surgery then I will be out 8-12 weeks. If they do have to perform surgery I do not know how long I will be out of action.”
Carwin’s last fight against then UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar, was the first loss of his mixed martial arts career. Carwin dominated Lesnar in the first round of that fight with
heavy strikes, but was unable to put the champion away. Carwin was clearly exhausted when the second round began and submitted to Lesnar’s arm triangle choke at 2:19 of the round.
Carwin’s lack of stamina was not lost on him, as he also posted, “The good news is the doctors said I can work on my cardio (they must have seen my last fight lol) with this injury.”
Carwin has remained in the news since the Lesnar fight, as his name was linked to an illegal steroid dealer who was recently sentenced to a four-year prison term.
Nelson’s last fight was an unanimous decision loss to Junior dos Santos in August of this year. The Nelson vs. dos Santos fight was to determine the number one contender for the UFC heavyweight
title. It is expected that dos Santos will be the first opponent for newly crowned champion Cain Velasquez. Prior to the dos Santos loss, Nelson had won his previous two fights via first round knockout.
The UFC has not announced a replacement opponent for Nelson.
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