UFC 108 has transformed into an utterly vile abomination.  The event has become synonymous with other inanimate objects in important American history that can somehow negatively influence the health and safety of human beings, such as the car in the movie “Christine”, the evil house in “The Amityville Horror”, or that damn Tiki idol that plagued the Brady Bunch on their trip to Hawaii.

The following bouts were all scheduled to take place at UFC 108, but were cancelled due to a fighter withdrawing.  The fighters that pulled out are listed first and followed by the reason for their absence:  Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (A-Team movie) vs. Rashad Evans, Gabriel Gonzaga (staph) vs. Junior Dos Santos, Carlos Condit (hand injury) vs. Paul Daley, Tyson Griffin (injury) vs. Jim Miller, and now, Rory Markham (Achilles injury) vs. Martin Kampmann.

That’s five fights that fell through, which is enough to fill a standard UFC main card event.  The replacement bout for the headliner will feature talented light-heavyweight Thiago Silva facing Rashad Evans, and the interesting twist here is that there’s a good chance that Rampage will still face Rashad if he advances past Thiago.

A certain replacement fighter actually provides a more salivating match-up than the original, as one of MMA’s first villains, Gilbert Yvel, will assume Gonzaga’s position in the Junior Dos Santos fight.  Sean Sherk will step in against Jim Miller to replace Tyson Griffin, and dangerous submissionist Dustin Hazelett jumps in for Condit to take on Paul “Semtex” Daley.

No opponent has been named for Martin Kampmann now that Condit is out, and I’m sure Kampmann is vying for a more favorable replacement this time around, as he was knocked out of top-contender status by Paul Daley when the UK slugger filled in for an injured Mike Swick at UFC 103.

Barring no further catastrophes or cataclysmic incidents, UFC 108 is scheduled to kick off on January 2^nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

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