Josh Koscheck Injured, Forced Out Of UFC 163
UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Demian Maia at UFC 163 due to an injury.
The promotion announced Koscheck’s injury Friday morning, but no specifics were given. No replacement will be found for the match, and the card will proceed with 12 scheduled fights. It is unclear at the moment if the fight will be rescheduled for a later event.
The 35-year-old, who made his UFC on the first season finale of The Ultimate Fighter, is coming off of two straight losses. Most recently, Koscheck (17-7 MMA, 15-7 UFC) lost to Robbie Lawler by TKO at UFC 157 in February. Prior to that, he suffered a split decision loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC on Fox: Diaz vs. Miller. He has fought for the promotion a record 22 times since 2005. He returned to The Ultimate Fighter as a coach for the twelfth season opposite Georges St-Pierre, with the finale airing on December 4.
Koscheck faced GSP for the welterweight title at UFC 124 in Montreal a week after the TUF season finale. The champion retained his belt by unanimous decision, and Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone on the right side of his face. The injury left him unable to fly because of air pockets that had former around the right eye, so the promotion arranged for him and his trainer to drive to Boston for corrective surgery.
Koscheck’s would-be opponent, Demian Maia (18-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) has won three consecutive fights, including his welterweight debut against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 148 last July. After that, he submitted Rick Story with a neck crank at UFC 153 in October 2012, and most recently, he defeated Jon Fitch by unanimous decision at UFC 156.
UFC 163 is scheduled for August 3 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The card now includes:
MAIN CARD
- Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung – for featherweight title
- Phil Davis vs. Lyoto Machida
- Cezar Ferreira vs. Clint Hester
- John Lineker vs. Phil Harris
- Vinny Magalhaes vs. Anthony Perosh
PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET)
- Sheila Gaff vs. Amanda Nunes
- Neil Magny vs. Sergio Moraes
- Thales Leites vs. Tom Watson
- Josh Clopton vs. Rani Yahya
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6:30 p.m. ET)
- Ian McCall vs. Iliarde Santos
- Viscardi Andrade vs. Bristol Marunde
- Robert Drysdale vs. Ednaldo Oliveira
