While he wasn't on the fight card for the UFC's last network broadcast on FOX, Brian Stann earned rave reviews for his performance as an analyst.
As it turns out, that's the only way fans are going to see him when the UFC next hits FOX in August.
Stann, who was due to fight former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard on August 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, has been forced to withdraw from the fight with an injured shoulder. No word on a new opponent for Lombard, who is scheduled to make his UFC debut on a 25-fight winning streak, but it's hard to imagine the bout being a main event without Stann's participation.
The Stann-Lombard bout had been listed by some outlets as the main event of the UFC on Fox 4 fight card, but it's hard not to look at the listed co-main event between Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader and not see the real main event of the evening. Machida has been the headliner in five of his last six bouts, with his only undercard bout coming on the stacked UFC 129 fight card at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, which was headed up by a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields and also included a UFC Featherweight Championship match between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick. With Stann out of the picture, look for Machida and Bader to take over the headlining spot.
As for Lombard, no other middleweights are booked on the UFC on Fox 4 fight card, so Stann's replacement may move over from another upcoming UFC event. The UFC 150 fight card on August 11 features two middleweight bouts, with one pitting Jake Shields against Ed Herman and the other matching Yushin Okami against Luiz Cane. Shields, the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, would certainly make a strong opponent for Lombard, as would Okami, who is less than a year removed from facing Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship. Among fighters who have been in action recently and aren't booked, Rousimar Palhares would probably make the most sense, despite his recent loss to Alan Belcher.