UFC.com posted a quick news brief that Forrest Griffin has had to pull out of his scheduled fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 70 because of a staph infection.
Light heavyweight contender Forrest Griffin has been sidelined by a severe staph infection in his knee and today was forced to withdraw from his UFC 70 bout with Lyoto Machida. A replacement is currently being sought to face Machida on the April 21st card, which will be held at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England.
There had been some rumors circulating around the internet that Forrest possibly had a leg injury after he had been spotted around the Las Vegas area with a “severe limp.” Now we know the reason for that limp.
Reports are now surfacing that Forrest’s training partner Rory Singer my be filling in and taking the fight against Lyoto Machida, but at this time I haven’t been able to confirm that. This was an inside joke and complete garbage, so forget I even wrote it.
A staph infection can be a pretty serious thing and is actually a quite commong thing in MMA training facilities and wrestling rooms. You may remember that on The Ultimate Fighter season 4 that many of the fighters caught a slight case of staph. Staph can be treated if caught early on, but if it is left untreated it can have devastating affects.
In fact, Cole Escovedo, a veteran of the Zuffa owned World Extreme Cagefighting promotion is currently suffering paralysis from his waist down due to an untreated staph infection.
According to a post by Laura Escovedo on MMA.tv and confirmed by Reed Harris of the WEC, Cole contracted a staph infection back in December that went unchecked because he just thought it was a spider bite or something of that sort. By the time he was diagnosed in January with staph, the infection made its way into his spine and paralyzed him from the waist down.
Cole was hospitalized and underwent an operation to alleviate some of the fluid that had built up on his spine due to the infection. He has since been released from the hospital and is now at home with a walker and is set to begin therapy.
At the time of publication, it was unknown whether Cole’s paralysis is a permanent or, hopefully, a temporary condition.
So, its good that Griffin was able to catch the staph infection early on and is getting treatment, and hopefully Cole Escovedo can recover fully from his staph infection and walk normally again.
** UPDATE **
The UFC has confirmed that David Heath will be Forrest Griffin’s replacement against Lyoto Machida at UFC 70
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Amber
eric
capt.ADK'er
Yael Grauer
itzFORT
Singh is King
Fizzlesticks
WTFH
Studog
staph is BAD shet!
Man-o-man, doesnt the facilities ever clean these places. I mean im pretty sure it isnt that hard to clean the octagon after a full day of practice. But you never know, i remember the NFL had the same problem, and they are state of the art facilities over there. But hopefully they are aware that the staph is nothing to be playing with, especially if this can cause paralysis. Man i didnt know it could cause all that though. Good luck forest and Cole Escovedo!!
Well, this sucks. I really wanted to see him fight. I wish him the best…. no worries though, the fight card was so packed that it wont really put a damper on anything.
Rumor has it that David Heath will replace Forrest forthis bout.
Pride finally confirmed the first match on their next show. Looks like Sokoudjou who upset little Nog in the last show will be facing Ricardo Arona.
first i didnt think staph was so serious to leave someone paralysed is no joke .Second when i say pride33 i seen sokoudjou’s record and i think it was like 2-1 i said for sure this guy has no chance i even said to my bro little nog has a chin of granite then a second later nog was on his back out cold little did i know that that was the first upset of many in that card man that was some good mma!!!!!!!!!!!!
hehe Aronas one of my fav fighters man, he gon put the hurt on sokoudjou.
im i the only one who thinks that the ufc needs to stop putting these tuf fighters out there some of them suck bad rory,ross pointon,scott smith even though he had that great ko,drago ,and even patrick cote these guys need to be in smaller shows
Yea i agree with ya to a extent rich, because when they get in the octagon they all look like they are all beginners when they get in there. They probably be all nervous maybe because they have a real intense spotlight on them, or maybe because of the pressure of their team, i donno but they be looking REAL suspect. And the bad part about it they all have deep mma experience, they all looked sloppy to me, wel except bisbing, and a few others like you said.
But then if they do that, then they wont get any extra money on the side. You know they get money from viewers viewing in, and companies paying them to air commercials, but they could make it interesting and just maybe have something like maybe the best fighters up and comming from all around the world and compete for the usuall prize at the end, i mean i like who they choose because you know..you get to watch them grow and what not, but i rather see some raw talent in there, some eager new bloods eager to prove themselves, maybe we will then see more knockouts and stuff, i mean just look what happend on that season when tito and shamrock’s heated rivalry got into the mix of the show. It created all that hype from week to week and eventually had a couple headliners shows and fights and pay-per views.
@Richard
I hear ya man, really, I hear what your saying but the excitement in the TUF series is the hope that someone you know, or even yourself might actually get a shot at $200k and a contract with the UFC. It’s a fantasy for a lot of regular Joe’s, and it’s a huge money maker for the UFC. I think the primary reason they do it is to expose the general public to MMA through Spike TV so they can enlarge their audience and rake it in on PPV.
but we also have gotten a lot of great fighters from tuf bisbing evens sanchez koscheck im justn saying if u keep losing in the ufc get out bring some one new in ross rory hoger and even though he wasnt in tuf mir has got to go
Ok, so rich what do you think about forest. Do you think he is a quality enough mma athlete to comepete agianst the , evans,kos,sanchez, liddells of the sport?
todd
hell know did u see his lost to jardine to me he should be ashamed of himself to cry like that he hasnt showed anything special other than the fact he has a great sprawl he used to be known as a brawler but after he fought some one with some power i dont think hell be brawling anymore
At this point I think he is still around more for his personality than his skill set. He loses, but he gives it everything and takes a beating…the crowds love that because there is always a chance of him turning it around and winning the fight.
@Todd
I can’t help but notice that you’re including Evans….
The man can’t finish!!!
hillbilly havent read from u in a while evans is evolving he finished lambert and hella finished salmon so maybe this is a hole knew rashad personally i would like to see him persue a bjj black belt hes strong and already a good wrestler.
Amir
forrest used to be known for a good chin not no more he just hasnt faced anyone that had any real power.And u guys know who really sucks bad stephan bonnar the guys a golden glove boxer and a black belt in bjj and he still couldnt out box forrest or submit evans
@Diik
Funny you should mention the Salmon fight. It’s next on Spike…
Been traveling….trying to land a 6 figure income!!
i just pulled a 14 hour day washing dishes man go get urs
The hell with IFL……… I just watched Ludwig beat Gong, but Gong got the decision in kickboxing on FSN…
Sorry, it’s on eSpN…
Now the girls are fighting in Vegas…Angela Rivera is HOT>…
@Dr J
Any updates or news regarding Forrest, his recovery, possible next fight card, ect?
@MMAKansas,
No word yet on Forest. With staff you gotta figure he’ll need at least 1-2 months to recover.