Illness forces Lesnar out of UFC 106 main event

Just as President Barack Obama proclaims the H1N1 virus aka Swine Flu a national crisis, the UFC has its own mini crisis as Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar announced Monday that he will have to withdraw from his main event showdown with Shane Carwin at UFC 106.

Apparently the Champion has been dealing with a sickness for approximately three weeks and has been left unable to train. With the November 21st event less than a month away and Lesnar still unable to shake the cold he felt he was forced to withdraw from such an important fight.

The UFC reportedly has moved the Tito Ortiz/Forrest Griffin fight to co-main event status and is looking to set up a new fight to fill the gaping hole created by the departure of the heavyweight title fight between Lesnar and Carwin.

Lesnar/Carwin has been rescheduled to the UFC 108 card on January 2nd which is scheduled to take place from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Check back at Fighter's Corner for further updates on the 106 card.

UFC 104 main event an important fight for UFC as well as both fighters

As the UFC has grown over the past few years, it has been widely recognized that their glamor division, strongest division was its 205 lb league of Light Heavyweight fighters. Over the years it's had some of the sports most widely recognized champions: Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans.

Now not only does the division have the star power it has easily the most depth. Which can be a bane as much as it is a positive.

Current champion Lyoto Machida, 31, will face fellow Brazilian native Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, 27, at UFC 104 from Las Vegas on October 24th in his first title defense. Machida is the organization's first champion whose primary language is anything other than English since Vitor Belfort held the belt shortly more than a decade ago.

The onus, thus, will be on the undefeated karate specialist to re-establish the fading brightness of a once brilliant division. That isn't to say that the division has suddenly fallen on hard times, more that it is in need of a powerful champion to reign supreme like that of Anderson Silva for middleweights or Georges St.-Pierre does in the welterweight division.

At 15-0 Machida certainly has shown the ability to be dominant especially in his most recent victory -- a two round demolition of Rashad Evans which he finished with a brutal TKO. The question isn't whether he has the talent to remain champion, he has shown this at least in the opinion of this writer, but whether he can move the audiences around the world enough with this next performance to be a constant main event draw.

Rua (18-3), the latest contender of the deep 205 lb division, has the chance to do the same. If he can upend the undefeated champion in spectacular fashion, the crowd could easily fall behind a fighter who only a few short years ago was considered by most as the elite light heavyweight talent in the world.

Regardless of whether Machida or Rua emerge victorious on Saturday night less than three weeks from now, the key will be whether one of them takes up the torch left by the former stars of the elite division.

Chuck Liddell has most likely fought his last battle inside the octagon. TUF alums Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin have been exposed. "Rampage" Jackson has taken an indefinite hiatus. Tito Ortiz is, well, past his prime to be nice. The division appears to be there for the taking, in desperate need of a future star to emerge.

The UFC hopes it will happen at 104 with either Machida or Rua.