Injury forces Shane del Rosario out of UFC 168 fight against Guto Inocente

Shane del Rosario will wait a while longer to try to get back on the winning track.

A rib injury has forced del Rosario (11-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) out of his heavyweight fight against Guto Inocente (6-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) next month at UFC 168. Sources close to the fight on Thursday revealed del Rosario’s injury to MMAjunkie.

UFC 168 takes place Dec. 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and MMAjunkie. Del Rosario vs. Inocente was slated for the preliminary card.

Del Rosario, who started his career 11-0, including 3-0 with three first-round stoppages under the Strikeforce banner, has lost both of his fights in the UFC and was looking for his first victory in the promotion. After the UFC-Strikeforce merger, del Rosario debuted against Stipe Miocic at UFC 146 in May 2012, but dropped a second-round TKO. Against Pat Barry this past December, he was knocked out in the second round at the TUF 16 Finale. Prior to the skid in the UFC, the Californian had won 10 of his 11 fights with first-round stoppages, and the one that didn’t end in the first was a second-round TKO.

Inocente is looking to stay on track with a four-fight winning streak and still may get a chance next month if a new opponent is found for him. But he hasn’t fought since May 2012, when he outpointed Virgil Zwicker in his lone Strikeforce fight. He was scheduled to meet Gian Villante in the fall of 2012, but the Strikeforce card he was booked for was canceled. Before the Strikeforce win, all five of his wins had been by stoppage.

With the change, the latest UFC 168 card now includes:

• Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva – for UFC middleweight title
• Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate – for women’s bantamweight title
• Josh Barnett vs. Travis Browne
• Michael Johnson vs. Gleison Tibau
• Uriah Hall vs. Chris Leben
• Diego Brandao vs. Dustin Poirier
• Manny Gamburyan vs. Dennis Siver
• Fabricio Camoes vs. Jim Miller
• William Macario vs. Bobby Voelker
• Guto Inocente vs. TBA
• Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Howard
• Estevan Payan vs. Robert Peralta

For more on UFC 168, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Shane Del Rosario)