Hamill out of UFC 102 fight with Vera, Soszynski in
Matt Hamill has taken himself out of his scheduled fight at UFC 102 due to a knee injury, according to multiple reports. Krzysztof Soszynski will replace Hamill against Brandon Vera.
The Hamill/Vera showdown was being hyped as a grudge match of sorts, as Vera, who comes from Filipino descent, took exception to Hamill’s post-fight celebration after he knocked out fello Filipino and close friend Mark Munoz at UFC 96. Hamill’s injury has been reported as a torn meniscus, and he is expected to have arthroscopic surgery later this week to fix the problem. He should be able to return to training after about three weeks of rehab.
Taking fights on short notice is nothing new to Soszynski. After beating Brian Stann at UFC 97, Soszynski was a late replacement for an injured Houston Alexander at UFC 98. He went on to beat Andre Gusmao by knockout to improve his UFC record to 3-0.
Vera struggled in losses to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum. Those losses convinced Vera to move down to the light heavyweight class. Vera won a very lackluster decision over Reese Andy in his light heavyweight debut, and lost to Keith Jardine in another subpar performance at UFC 89. However, Vera looked more like his old self in a TKO victory over Mike Patt at UFC 96. The win moved Vera’s MMA record to 10-3 (6-3 UFC).
The Hamill/Vera fight was scheduled to be on UFC 102’s main card, and the expectation is that the Soszynski/Vera fight will remain on the televised portion of the event. UFC 102 takes place in Portland, Oregon on August 29th.
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Now this could be a damn good fight. I’m really starting to like Krzysztof. He’s been improving alot and his confidence looks to be pretty high. Lets see how he looks in there against the A list now. Vera is one of the more well rounded fighters when he chooses to show it. I think he’ll pull this out though