Josh Koscheck injured, out of UFC 151 co-main event with Jake Ellenberger

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC 151 has been a one-fight card since its announcement, with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson being its sole selling point. But the card got even weaker on Tuesday, as one half of its co-main event has been forced out due to injury.

It was announced during Tuesday's new edition of "UFC Tonight" on Fuel TV that Josh Koscheck has a bulging disc in his back, and injury that takes him out of a bout against Jake Ellenberger on the Sept. 1 card.

As of Tuesday, the UFC did not have a replacement set for Ellenberger for the card, which comes in less than four weeks to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Koscheck would have been fighting to bounce back from a loss to Johny Hendricks in his last bout, a loss that snapped a two-fight winning streak. Ellenberger as well hopes to bounce back from a loss if he stays on the card, as he was knocked out by Martin Kampmann in his last bout in June.

Penick's Analysis: This is a bad blow to an already weak card, and if they don't have a replacement it means Eddie Yagin will be in a co-main event on a UFC pay-per-view card. People are paying for this card for the main event and that fight alone, but the lower quality from a name standpoint and a "big fight" standpoint on this card is very apparent, and it sticks out amidst some of the other cards surrounding it, especially with this fight being lost from the event.

[Josh Koscheck art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14064.shtml

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