Alessio Sakara Out of UFC 158 Rematch with Patrick Cote

ALESSIO SAKARA OUT OF UFC 158 REMATCH WITH PATRICK COTE
BY MMAJUNKIE.COM STAFF ON DEC 17, 2012 AT 3:50 PM ET

Alessio Sakara (15-10 MMA, 6-7 UFC) and Patrick Cote (18-8 MMA, 5-8 UFC) will have to wait a bit longer to settle their business; a recently announced rematch at UFC 158 between the two middleweights has been scratched.

Sakara recently announced that kidney issues will keep him out of action into early 2013.

A UFC official told MMAjunkie.com a replacement will be named shortly.

UFC 158 takes place March 16 at Bell Centre in Montreal. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Sakara thought he had picked up a big TKO win over Cote this past month at UFC 154. But instead, referee Dan Miragliotta disqualified the Italian fighter for illegal strikes the back of Cote's head. Many believed Sakara should have been given a warning, and Cote an opportunity to recover to continue fighting.

But that didn't happen, and Sakara's request to have the bout overturned to a no-contest was denied.

Sakara had won three consecutive fights from 2008-2010, but he's since dropped three straight, including the DQ loss to Cote and defeats to contenders Chris Weidman and Brian Stann.

Cote, meanwhile, is now 5-1 in his past six fights. The lone defeat came to Cung Le earlier this year at UFC 148, where he returned to the organization for the first time since 2010.