[ditto]

Link:

Matt Hughes Thinks Matt Serra’s Injury is Legit



The UFC officially announced earlier today that current welterweight champion Matt Serra has injured his back and will be unable to compete in the main event at UFC 79. His scheduled opponent for the Dec. 29 fight, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, today issued a statement, saying that he doesn’t think the injury “is a ploy not to fight.“

Hughes posted the statement on his blog at matt-hughes.com.
Whether it was a veiled knock at Serra or not, Hughes said that he believes his opponent is genuinely injured. However, Hughes also said he had suffered a similar injury and was able to fight through it.

“I believe Serra is actually hurt, so I don’t think this is just a ploy not to fight,” Hughes wrote. “Before my Royce (Gracie) fight (at UFC 60), I had three bulged discs that I was able to repair enough to fight. As everybody knows, you never go into a fight 100 percent.“

A timetable for Serra’s return isn’t known.

Hughes also confirmed that he hasn’t been booked for a possible Plan B fight. Hughes, who coached opposite Serra on the current season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” earned a title shot by defeating Chris Lytle at UFC 68 in March. Although it seems unlikely that the UFC would make Hughes fight a different opponent in the interim, it’s always a possibility.

“I’m just going to continue to train until I find out what’s next,” Hughes stated.

As it stands, UFC 79’s main card still features bouts of Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, and Rich Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard