The UFC announced yesterday that Geronimo dos Santos had been pulled from his UFC 153 fight against Gabriel Gonzaga.
With Gonzaga without an opponent, Matt Mitrione has said on Twitter that he would be willing to step up on one weeks notice to face the former heavyweight title contender.
@danawhite I’ll fight @gonzagabjj if you can get me a visa. I turned down DC due to rasslin, lemme take this fight!
— Phuckett (@mattmitrione) October 5, 2012
Mitrione (5-1) was recently offered a chance to take on Strikeforce heavyweight fighter Daniel Cormier, but turned the fight down because of the wrestling background of Cormier. UFC President Dana White was nearly speechless last weekend when reporters asked him about why Mitrione did not want to take the fight.
Mitrione is currently scheduled to take on Phil De Fries at UFC 155 at the end of the year and he has not had a fight since UFC 137, which was nearly one year ago. He was supposed to return earlier this year, but the fight was scratched when his opponent could not obtain a visa to take the fight.
During yesterdays UFC 153 media conference call, the UFC did not say if Gonzaga would stay on the card next week or if the organization was seeking a new opponent for him. If Gonzaga is pulled from the card, there will only be 12 fights on the card with six of them on the main card and the other six on the preliminary card.
The current UFC 153 card is below:
Main Card: (PPV)
Anderson Silva (30-4) vs. Stephan Bonnar (17-7)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-7-1, 1NC) vs. Dave Herman (21-4)
Glover Teixeira (18-2) vs. Fabio Maldonado (18-5)
Jon Fitch (26-4-1, 1NC) vs. Erick Silva (14-2, 1NC)
Phil Davis (9-1, 1NC) vs. Wagner Prado (8-0, 1NC)
Demian Maia (16-4) vs. Rick Story (14-5)
Preliminary Card: (FX, FUEL TV)
Rony Jason (12-3) vs. Sam Sicilia (11-1)
Gleison Tibau (34-8) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (11-1)
Diego Brandao (19-8) vs. Joey Gambino (9-1)
Sergio Moraes (6-3) vs. Renee Forte (7-1)
Luiz Cane (12-4, 1NC) vs. Chris Camozzi (17-5)
Cristiano Marcello (12-4) vs. Reza Madadi (12-2)