There will be a big change to the co-main event of UFC 203. Heavyweight Ben Rothwell is forced to drop out of his match against Fabricio Werdum after a nasty injury.
According to various reports, Rothwell went down with a knee injury and that it could be a torn meniscus and an ACL injury, which would essentially take Rothwell out of competition for the rest of 2016.
This is not the first time that Rothwell has had knee issues. Against Gilbert Yvel at UFC 115 on June 15, 2010, Rothwell tore his ACL in the first round of that fight. Rothwell is 4-1 in his last 5 fights, having lost his last fight against Junior dos Santos back in April earlier this year. Rothwell is 6-4 in the UFC. In the latest UFC rankings, Rothwell was the #5 heavyweight while Werdum was ranked #1.
Travis Browne (18-4-1) has stepped up to face Fabricio Werdum, who lost the UFC heavyweight title to Stipe Miocic in his last fight back at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016. Miocic will defend his title on that same UFC 203 card in the main event against Alistair Overeem in Miocic's hometown of Cleveland. Before the loss to Miocic, Werdum was on a six-fight win streak dating back to all the way back to 2012. Browne last fought at UFC 200, losing to Cain Velasquez via TKO.
UFC 203 will be held at the Quicken Loans Arena on September 10 on pay-per-view. Also on the card is former WWE star CM Punk's MMA debut against Mickey Gall.
