UFC lightweight Michael Johnson (15-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC) has pulled out of his fight with Josh Thomson (20-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at UFC on Fox 12 with an injury. MMAJunkie.com reported the news on Friday.
Update: UFC.com has reported that Bobby Green will be stepping up on short-notice to face Thomson. Green was originally slated to face Abel Trujillo, in a fight that was moved from UFC 176 to UFC Fight Night 47 in Bangor, Maine.
The card, which is headlined by a welterweight showdown between top contenders Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown, is set for July 26 in San Jose, CA. The scrap between the two Top-10 lightweights was set as the opening bout of the main card.
The 35-year-old Thomson is coming off of a narrow split-decision loss to Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 10 back in January, and he has gone 4-3 in his last seven fights dating back to 2010. Despite the mixed results, the always-competitive Thomson is currently ranked No. 3 on the UFC.com rankings.
Johnson is riding an impressive three-fight winning streak, which includes wins over Joe Lauzon, Gleison Tibau and Melvin Guillard. A win over a veteran like Thomson would have propelled him that much closer to title contention.
Taking a fight on two weeks' notice is a lot to ask in the UFC’s lightweight division, especially against a crafty veteran like Thomson, who has had a full training camp for this fight. Its a big step up in competition for the No. 12 ranked Green, who will be looking to make it 4-0 inside the Octagon after wins over Jacob Volkmann, James Krause and Pat Healy.
The details of Johnson’s injury aren’t known at this point, and there is no timeframe on when he’ll be able to return to action.
