UFC President Dana white must be close to having a minor heart attack right about now.
Nearly all of the UFC’s recent and upcoming events have been marred by injuries sustained by the organization’s top fighters. The trend continues today as MMAWeekly reports that Shane ‘The Engineer’ Carwin could not make his scheduled appearance for autograph signings at a pre-fight event in the UK due to a knee injury he sustained while training his wrestling.
Carwin is penciled in to throw leather with the rotund heavyweight contender Roy Nelson at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 16 Finale on December 15th in Las Vegas. Although the report indicates that Carwin will still be fighting at the event, I would not be surprised if ’The Engineer’ is forced to pull out shortly.
The sport has not been kind to Carwin’s body and it remains unclear how much more damage he can sustain before having to call it quits. He is coming off a one-sided loss to the current UFC heavyweight champion, Junior dosSantos, and has battled back issues throughout his career. The emergence of knee problems is a worrisome sign for the aging powerhouse.
Even if Shane Carwin makes the decision to take the fight, he will likely be at a distinct disadvantage come fight night due to his new physical ailment. Roy Nelson will undoubtedly use that to his advantage along with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to target ‘The Engineer’s’ knee on December 15th.