Josh Koscheck Injury Scraps Planned UFC 163 Showdown with Demian Maia

UFC officials announced the news on Friday, revealing that the Aug. 3 show will now move forward with 12 fights instead of 13. The event takes place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is headlined by a featherweight title confrontation between reigning champion Jose Aldo and challenger Chan Sung Jung. The pay-per-view portion of the card will also see Lyoto Machida collide with Phil Davis in a pivotal light heavyweight pairing.

The nature of Koscheck’s injury was not disclosed, and it is unknown if the wrestler’s bout with Maia will be booked for a later event. The 35-year-old challenged Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title in 2010, dropping a one-sided unanimous decision to “Rush” at UFC 124. Though Koscheck rebounded with a pair of wins over Matt Hughes and Mike Pierce, the “TUF 1” alum suffered consecutive defeats in his last two fights, relinquishing a split decision to Johny Hendricks before sustaining a technical knockout at the hands of Robbie Lawler this past February.

Maia, meanwhile, has won three straight fights since dropping to 170 pounds last year, stopping Dong Hyun Kim and Rick Story before dominating Jon Fitch five months ago en route to a unanimous decision win over the former title challenger at UFC 156. Known for his superior Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Maia owns 50 percent of his victories by way of submission and has been stopped just once in nearly 12 years as a pro.