Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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UFC 149 is going to take place tonight in Calgary, Alberta, Canada but there will be a lot of fighters that were set to be on this card that are not. Injuries are a huge part of the fight game but never like this. UFC President Dana White has called it the most injured riddled event in the sport’s history.  Jose Aldo was set to fight in the main event and he was injured. Also forced off of the card were Michael Bisping,  Shogun Rua, Thiago Alves, and Thiago Silva.

All of the injures forced the UFC to take a co-headliner from UFC 148 and move it to 149 to be the main event. That fight will be for the interim bantamweight title. Dominick Cruz is the current champ but recently tore his ACL so he’s on the shelf. Urijah Faber and Renan Barao will square off to see who fights Cruz when he returns.

Barao comes in riding a thirty fight win streak which is unheard of in mixed martial arts. He lost his first career fight and hasn’t tasted defeat since. Five of those wins have been inside the octagon, two for the WEC and three under the UFC umbrella. His all around game doesn’t seem to have any holes. His striking is rock solid to go along with outstanding ground skills.

Urijah Faber is one of the most well known and well respected fighters in the game and rightfully so.  He is just as good outside of the cage promoting the sport as he is when he is fighting inside the octagon. The “California Kid” holds a record of 26-5 overall and over half of his career fights have been for some sort of title which is unreal. He is one of the most prepared guys in the world and his brain might be his best weapon. Great wrestling and solid standup will give him a shot against anyone.

Anyone that knows me a little bit knows I’m one of the biggest Faber fans of all time. It’s hard not to respect a guy who promotes and loves the sport like him. Add in that he a world champion contender and you have one of the best makeups around. That all being said, Faber has a tough matchup on his hands tonight.

The light at the end of the tunnel is fighting Cruz for the true title. Nobody on Earth wants to beat Cruz more than Urijah Faber. Renan Barrao is a huge obstacle in the way and he’ll have to earn it if he plans on getting his hand raised at the end of the night.

I don’t think I’ve ever picked against Faber and I won’t start now. This fight has the chance to best one of the best of 2012. Barrao wants to prove he’s the real deal and Faber wants another crack at the gold. The winner of this one is going to be the fans, that I know. Faber will win if he can avoid big shots and push the pace for up to five rounds. If Barrao can strike early and often, it might be a bad night for Urijah.

The co-main event brings Hector Lombard to the UFC. The former Bellator champ will be making his octagon debut against scrappy Tim Boetsch. 

Lombard comes in at 31-2-1 and is also riding an impressive winning streak. He hasn’t tasted defeat since November of 2006. His striking is relentless and will look to pound out an always game Boetsch.

Tom Boetsch is another fighter that is hard to root against. His never quit attitude has probably won him a few fights that he was clearly losing but rallied to gain the victory. His hands are heavy and his wrestling is upper class. Boetsch has won three fights in a row but none of those were against anyone that can strike like Lombard.

This fight is one that won’t want to get up and grab an adult beverage while it’s going on. You might miss a highlight reel knockout. I like Lombard by KO but wouldn’t be surprised at all if Boetsch outwills him and gets himself a huge victory.

Full fight card;

• Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao (for interim bantamweight title)
• Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard
• Shawn Jordan vs. Cheick Kongo
• Brian Ebersole vs. James Head
• Chris Clements vs. Matt Riddle
• Court McGee vs. Nick Ring
• Roland Delorme vs. Francisco Rivera
• Ryan Jimmo vs. Anthony Perosh
• Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon
• Antonio Carvalho vs. Daniel Pineda
• Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen

Another great card coming to us courtesy of The Ultimate Fighting Championship. We have a title fight and a title contender to go along with some pretty nice young fighters. I’m a big fan of this card as always. It doesn’t get any better than mixed martial arts action.