Shane Carwin plans on withdrawing from his previously announced fight against Roy Nelson at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 in Las Vegas.Carwin blogged Tuesday morning that he will need at least a couple of months to recover from a back injury and much longer if surgery is required.
"I am going to pull out of the fight with Roy Nelson," Carwin said. "As many of you know I have been having some back pain. I had an MRI yesterday and I have some damage that may really require surgery. If the doctors do not have to perform surgery then I will be out eight to 12 weeks. If they do have to perform surgery, I do not know how long I will be out of action."
Carwin has had a rough second half of the year after winning the interim title with a knockout win over Frank Mir at UFC 111 in March. First, in his UFC heavyweight unification title bout against Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 in July, Carwin blew a first-round lead to lose to Lesnar by submission in the second. Then, in August, reports emerged of his alleged link to steroids and now an injury will force him out of a huge UFC 125 card.
"This is a hard decision but the right one and I hope #TeamCarwin [sic] can stand by me through this period of my career," Carwin wrote. "No one wants to get me back to winning more than me. I just need to be healthy to do it."
Carwin's scrap with Nelson was scheduled to be the co-headliner at UFC 125 in support of the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.
Get the latest gear
