TJ Waldburger Faints, Forced Out Of UFC Fight Night 61 Bout
It seems as if weight cutting has become quite the issue in mixed martial arts (MMA). Numerous fighters over the past few months and years have fell ill during weight cutting, have been hospitalized, or have just missed weight terribly. It now seems as if another fighter has fell victim to weight cutting.
MMAJunkie has reported that TJ Waldburger fainted while cutting weight for his UFC Fight Night 61 bout against Wendell Oliveira and has been forced out of the fight. Despite not officially announcing the cancellation of the bout, UFC officials have said that both fighters will receive their contracted show money for the event.
Waldburger and Oliveira were scheduled to do battle on the preliminary card which is set to take place on Fox Sports 1. The event is set to go down on Sunday (February 22, 2015) at the Gigantinho Gymnasium in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The main card is also set to air on Fox Sports 1.
Of course his health is the main concern, but this situation does no good for Waldburger’s future either. He was in desperate need of a win after dropping three of his last four. He has also suffered two-straight knockout loses at the hands of Adlan Amagov and Mike Pyle.
Oliveira also had something to prove as he is coming off of a lackluster UFC debut, in which he was knocked out in just 80 seconds against Sergio Ponzinibbio last September.
With the falling out of this fight, UFC Fight Night 61 now looks like this:
MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)
- Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva
- Edson Barboza vs. Michael Johnson
- Sam Alvey vs. Cezar Ferreira
- Rustam Khabilov vs. Adriano Martins
- Iuri Alcantara vs. Frankie Saenz
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Sean Strickland
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 6 p.m. ET)
- Jessica Andrade vs. Marion Reneau
- Matt Dwyer vs. William Macario
- Mike De La Torre vs. Tiago Trator
- Cody Gibson vs. Douglas Silva
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 5:30 p.m. ET)
- Ivan Jorge vs. Josh Shockley
