Evans-Silva headlines ‘cursed’ lineup

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Injuries are a regular part of the job in a sports as physically demanding as mixed martial arts.

What has happened to the lineup of the Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the MGM Grand tonight, however, is downright bizarre.

No less than 10 potential or scheduled bouts were altered or canceled for various reasons, leaving a matchup of light heavyweight contenders as the main event for what traditionally has become one of the organization’s signature shows, New Year’s weekend in Las Vegas.

Thiago Silva will meet Rashad Evans in a pairing of two one-loss fighters atop the UFC 108 card that has been labeled by many with the dreaded term of cursed.

Silva says it makes no difference to him when people disparage him as a main event draw.

"This doesn’t affect me at all. I’m here to do my job. The UFC put me in a main event, so I’m going to represent and do my best," he said through an interpreter. "This is very important for my career. I’ll do my best to find my way to victory and then to a title shot."

Problems have plagued the card from the beginning.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (elbow surgery) and heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar (illness) briefly were considered for the card, but both are unavailable.

A bout between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez was booked to determine the top heavyweight contender behind No. 1 contender Shane Carwin, but Nogueira got a staph infection and had to back out.

It got worse from there, leaving Evans and Silva to headline the event.

"Probably in the history of the company, we’ve never gone through as many injuries and craziness as has happened to us in the last few months, but like I always say, we deliver fights. That’s what we do," UFC president Dana White said.

"When boxing or whoever else puts on fight cards, people fall off and the card has to be canceled or rescheduled. That’s not the case (for us). Despite how bad everything has been, we put together a great card for this weekend."

Evans also headlined the New Year’s weekend show last year, when he won the light heavyweight title from Forrest Griffin, a card that also featured an interim heavyweight title bout.

"I’m just going to show up and fight, man. I feel like whenever I show up and fight and go in there and do that, the fans are never disappointed," Evans said.

White said it’s one of the dangers of being in the fight business.

"We’re just going through this streak. This is a physical sport; these guys train hard. I don’t think people really realize (how physical it is)," he said. "It’s actually shocking that we haven’t had injuries like this sooner.

"But there’s some freak stuff out there, like what happened to Brock Lesnar. You’ve got (Carlos Condit) cutting (himself) on sheet metal. You’ve got some weird, goofy stuff, too."

Before he cut his hand, Condit was scheduled to take on Paul Daley in a matchup of welterweight contenders. Daley instead will meet Dustin Hazelett.

The fight has a great deal of implications in the division and has the potential to be an exciting one, as does a heavyweight matchup between Junior dos Santos and Gilbert Yvel.

Dos Santos has won three straight bouts against good competition, and Yvel is a powerful striker making his UFC debut.

The 11-fight card will begin at 4:35 p.m., with the pay-per-view broadcast airing live at 7. Two preliminary fights will air live on Spike (Cable 29) at 6.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.