Leonard Garcia Off UFC 144 Card Due To Injury

by Tim Burke on Jan 30, 2012 6:47 PM EST in UFC News

Image via UFC

Featherweight slugger Leonard Garcia was looking to avoid a third loss in a row when he was scheduled to meet Tiequan Zhang at UFC 144, but he'll have to wait a little longer to the get the chance. The WEC and UFC vet suffered an injury and was forced off the card. MMA Weekly has it:

Sources close to the fighter confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Monday that Garcia would be forced off the fight card set for Japan.

While the nature of the injuries are unknown, Garcia, who is widely considered one of the toughest fighters in the sport, obviously was banged up enough to have to drop out of the fight.

There has been no replacement named at this time, but UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby will likely secure a new opponent for Zhang in the coming days.

Tough break for Garcia. When George Sotiropoulos went down with an injury a few days ago and Takanori Gomi needed a new opponent, the UFC dipped into the Japanese talent pool for a replacement. Will they do the same here and we'll get to see another debuting fighter step up to face Zhang?

SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

0 recs | 53 comments

Comments

Crusher anyone?

MattParker117 - January 30, 2012 reply

That would be awesome

Or ENDLESS FIGHTER

menckenstein - January 30, 2012 reply

Why isn't this green?

Maybe cause he would violently end Guillotine man.

discoandherpes - January 31, 2012 reply

Rogan is sad

DSAhawker - January 30, 2012 reply

Hey, I'm sad!!!

I love watching Garcia fight. That dude brings it everytime he throws down!

I hope he heals up and quick and we seem him back in action soon.

@KatanaClothing - January 30, 2012 reply

He's too sloppy for my likes

He brings it, sure, but half the time he looks like a fool whiffing air with his noodle-armed haymakers

DSAhawker - January 30, 2012 reply

This.

He’s likable and there’s no denying that he brings it but he’s too damn sloppy for me.

Sweet Scientist - January 30, 2012 reply

I love watching garcia lose. if you take away his “stand and bang” bonuses on the scorecards he’s probably on 9 lose streak in the ufc

UncleMax - January 30, 2012 via Android app reply

He's still going to get the split decision

menckenstein - January 30, 2012 reply

I can't believe it took until the third comment.

Earl Montclair - January 30, 2012 reply

I wanted to give someone else the chance

But they failed us.

menckenstein - January 30, 2012 reply

Yep.

Earl Montclair - January 30, 2012 reply

looks like a slightly overrated yet fun place to be at…

Victor Rodriguez - January 30, 2012 reply

Sign a new JMMA fighter for this.

Kawajiri or Takaya sound good.

kreally - January 30, 2012 reply

Crusher

Takaya is still that guy who got blasted by Leonard Garcia

MattParker117 - January 30, 2012 reply

By the time that fight rolls around, it will have been 4 years since that happened.

He’s gone 8-4 since then with wins over Hansen, Beebe, and Fernandes. He deserves a shot in the UFC at somepoint.

kreally - January 30, 2012 reply

garcia will still win the decis....

Ah crap.

Ricardo Arguello - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

garcia

They should have removed him from the card for being leonard garcia.

thuggis - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

Just like Rashad, I’ll never understand the blind hatred for Garcia.

BVandDietPepsi - January 30, 2012 reply

Horrible fighter winning horrible decisions

That’ll do it

halitosis - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

He’s such an asshole for scoring those cards for himself and having FOTY matches.

Seriously, fuck that guy.

BVandDietPepsi - January 30, 2012 reply

Yeah, fuck him.

Akemi Homura - January 30, 2012 reply

Agreed

/sarcasm

I don’t necessarily hate him, I’m just rationalizing it

halitosis - January 30, 2012 via mobile reply

Because he has close to no stand-up skills

And stubbornly refuses to improve himself as a fighter and ever be a legitimate contender.

He should be on a 9 fight losing streak. Seriously.

SSreporters - January 30, 2012 reply

He shouldn't be in the UFC

He should be on a nine fight losing streak.

discoandherpes - January 31, 2012 reply

I've never understood the hatred for rashad either, but it's incredibly clear why garcia is disliked.

UncleMax - January 30, 2012 via Android app reply

i don’t hate garcia any more than some random bum at the gym; i just don’t want either one polluting a perfectly good UFC card.

thuggis - January 30, 2012 reply

I don't hate either but I think it's pretty straight-forward...

Rashad looked like a cocky asshole with crappy smack-talk on TUF and the only reason people stopped hating him is because Jon Jones showed up.

Garcia’s striking is slightly better than Matt Riddle and still manages to pull out decisions against ‘more skilled’ fighters by button bashing haymakers for three rounds.

ThatsHowIRoll - January 30, 2012 reply

There!

Another Japanese fighter on the Japanese card. That’s what I was looking for. Omigawa’s a big name and local fighter. That’ll be MUCH better than Garcia.

kreally - January 30, 2012 reply

It's a win/win for Omigawa

If he wins, he adds a much needed W to his UFC record and if he loses, they rarely cut guys after they take a fight on short notice.

simpsycho - January 30, 2012 reply

I was sure that

Omigawa would have sustained some arm injury after his last fight.

av1o3 - January 31, 2012 reply

sucks he could of actually beat the wolf

Bring in the crusher kawajiri

MaZZacare - January 30, 2012 via iPhone app reply

If they gave Zhang a japanese opponent, all of 1.4 billion people in China would watch the fight if they could. Chinese people very much dislike Japan and japanese people, even among educated and seemingly non-racist Chinese. I suspect Dana and Joe Silva aren’t aware of that.

Rody Diaz - January 30, 2012 reply