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Jose Aldo, Rampage Jackson injured and out of UFC 153

Brazilian pay-per-view card loses top three fights in less than a month

Jose Aldo wins

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Defending featherweight champion Jose Aldo, from Brazil, celebrates with fans after defeating Chad Mendes, from the US, in the first round during their featherweight title bout at UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday Jan. 15, 2012.

The torrent of injuries that has plagued the UFC in 2012 continued in particularly devastating fashion Tuesday afternoon.

UFC 153, scheduled for Oct. 13 in Rio de Janeiro, lost both its main event and co-main event in a matter of hours. Featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who was supposed to fight Frankie Edgar, hurt his foot. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson also pulled out of a bout against Glover Teixiera.

UFC President Dana White announced the news through his twitter account. The top three fights billed for UFC 153 have now fallen apart in the last month, as middleweights Vitor Belfort and Alan Belcher had also agreed to fight on the card.

The UFC booked Belfort as a late replacement to meet Jon Jones at UFC 152 and Belcher ended up injured with a fractured spine, anyway.

Some fans speculated that the loss of three fights could result in the UFC scrapping another event. But White gave no indication that cancelling was a possibility.

“We have some work to do,” White tweeted.

Erik Koch served as Aldo’s original opponent, but hurt himself in training to make way for the super fight with Edgar.

The pay-per-view contests that remain unaffected at UFC 153 include a welterweight bout pairing Jon Fitch and Erick Silva, a light heavyweight match with Phil Davis and Wagner Prado, and a welterweight fight between Demian Maia and Rick Story.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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