Pulled Groin Forces Fighter Out of UFC on FOX 5 Bout

PULLED GROIN FORCES LAVAR JOHNSON OUT OF UFC ON FOX 5 BOUT WITH BRENDAN SCHAUB
BY MATT ERICKSON ON NOV 30, 2012 AT 7:30 AM ET

Brendan Schaub was looking for a fight against Lavar Johnson. He got it, but now it'll have to wait.

Johnson (17-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has been forced out of his heavyweight fight against Schaub (8-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) in just over a week. The two were scheduled to meet at UFC on FOX 5 on Dec. 8.

A pulled groin is to blame for taking Johnson out of the fight. UFC President Dana White late Thursday announced Johnson's injury on Twitter.

Schaub took to social media, himself, to relay his disappointment in having the fight drop out just several days before he was to leave for Seattle, saying "Frustrated would be an understatement."

UFC officials said Schaub will be pulled from the card due to the late injury to Johnson, which takes the event from 13 fights down to 12.

UFC on FOX 5 takes place at KeyArena in Seattle. It will be headlined by a lightweight title fight between champ Benson Henderson and top contender Nate Diaz. The card also features a co-main event of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Alexander Gustafsson and B.J. Penn vs. Rory MacDonald. Johnson-Schaub had been ticketed for a spot closing out the prelims on FX.

The FX prelims portion is scheduled for a three-hour broadcast starting at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT). It was to feature six fights, preceded by three bouts streaming live on Facebook. UFC officials have not yet announced which Facebook fight will move up to the FX telecast.

Johnson won back-to-back "Knockout of the Night" awards with stoppages of Joey Beltran at UFC on FOX 2 in January and Pat Barry at UFC on FOX 3 in May. Then he took a short-notice fight against Stefan Struve at UFC 146 in May, just three weeks after his win over Barry, and was submitted in the first round. He was looking to get back in the win column on what have been his third FOX card.

Schaub was on a four-fight streak before dropping consecutive fights to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ben Rothwell. Earlier this year, Schaub told MMAjunkie.com Radio that he wanted to fight Johnson. He now will have to wait if he still wants a crack at him.