Chris Weidman injures shoulder, Costa Philippou steps up
by Mark La Monica | source: newsday.com
Chris Weidman, one of the top UFC middleweight fighters, is out of UFC 155 next month with a shoulder injury, Newsday has learned.
He was scheduled to fight Tim Boetsch on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas.
Weidman said the injury occured Tuesday while training in Arizona with UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader and Levittown-based Strikeforce light heavyweight Gian Villante. The injury occured during a grappling session, the 28-year-old Weidman said.
“I hit a double-leg and that’s it,” Weidman said Wednesday. “My shoulder landed weird and I felt a pop. I can’t even move my arm.”
Weidman said that he hasn’t received an official diagnosis from doctors, but he believes it is a torn labrum. The labrum is a cuff of cartilage that makes the shoulder joint stable and allows for a wide range of movements with the arm.
“It’s awful,” trainer Ray Longo said.
Taking Weidman’s place on the year-end card will be teammate Costa Philippou. A fellow Serra-Longo mixed martial artist, Philippou was supposed to fight this past Saturday against Nick Ring at UFC 154 in Montreal but the bout was canceled that morning when Ring fell ill.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Longo said. “I guess this is the reason.”