MMA ODDS AND ENDS FOR SATURDAY: DANIEL CORMIER OUT OF UFC 197 WITH INJURY

Report: Daniel Cormier from UFC 197 fight with Jon Jones Initially reported by BJPenn.com, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier is wounded and will probably be forced to pull from his upcoming UFC 197 major event title defense against Jon Jones. There is not any word on if the promotion will delay the name defense or if Jones and a late replacement will fight like Anthony Johnson since the severity of the injury of Cormier has not been revealed. Rumors swirled on Twitter week which Cormier may be nursing a leg injury and it seems those rumors were true. The UFC 197 co-main occasion can also be a title fight, a flyweight title defense by Demetrious”Mighty Mouse” Johnson against undefeated former Olympic golden medal-winning wrestler Henry Cejudo. The flyweight title defense can always take the place that is headlining, if everything else fails. UFC 197 occurs in three months (Saturday, April 23, 2016) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here’s an updated look in the fight cardDemetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Pettis Andre Fili vs. Yair Rodriguez Rafael Natal vs. Robert Whittaker Carla Esparza vs. Juliana Lima Clint Hester vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima Glaico Franca vs. James Vick Danny Roberts vs. Dominique Steele Efrain Escudero vs. Kevin Lee Chris Kelades vs. Sergio Pettis Norman Parke discharged from the UFC Former Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes winner Norman Parke has seemingly been released by the UFC following his unanimous decision loss to Rustam Khabilov. On a single day where several fighters pranked fans and press for April Fools (such as Alexander Gustafsson’s fake retirement), this release was no laughing matter. Parke started his UFC career going 4-0-1 in his first five fights, but matters took a turn for the worse after he started facing tougher competition because he went 1-3 in his last four bouts, losing competitive decisions to Khabilov, Francisco Trinaldo and Gleison Tibau while beating Reza Medadi. The Northern Irishman has the skills and talent and is only 29 years old.