T.J. Dillashaw’s Injury Hurts More than UFC 186

The bantamweight devision seems to be cursed. Dominick Cruz has suffered numerous injuries that have sidelined him for the better part of three years. Then after his successful return, he was injured again. Now T.J. Dillashaw is out of his rematch with former Champion Renan Barao due to a rib injury. Their rematch was previously scheduled and Barao was not able to compete due to a failed weight cut that had him passing out in his hotel bath tub.

The UFC confirmed a report released by The Star Phoenix today that Dillashaw had in fact suffered a rib injury and will not be competing at UFC 186. No word yet on weather or not Barao will be fighting on the card still.

No matter how many events are hindered by injuries, it always seems catastrophic. With the UFC trying to generate massive amounts of revenue to prevent a further credit downgrade, the affects of these injuries goes far beyond viewer experience.

UFC 186 was originally scheduled to include Dillashaw and Barao as the main event and Demetrius Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi in the co main event slot. Though Johnson is one of the most dominant champions the UFC has, he is hardly a pay-per-view draw. Along with that it is conceivable that Quinton Jackson’s fight against Fabio Maldonado would be bumped into the co-main with the only remaining title fight going to the main event.

If that happens, the UFC may have another major fight lost from this card. Currently Bellator MMA has filed an injuction to prevent “Rampage” Jackson from fighting at UFC 186 as they are embroiled in a battle over his contract. If “Rampage” is removed from UFC 186, Zuffa, LLC will most certainly fall short of their projected earnings for the month of April.