98 Curse continues, StrikeForce 6/19 & MORE...

98 INJURY CURSE
Luckily the main and co-main event have not been stricken with the "injury curse" raging over 98 competitors, but three others on the card have been effected. The latest is Houston "The Assassin" Alexander, who broke his hand during training earlier this week. With just a five-week break after his first-round submission over Brian Stann, Krzysztof Soszynski will fill in for Alexander. Both of Sos' wins have come via Kimura before the third round. Andre Gusmao (5-1, an IFL vet) is a grappling specialist who trains under Renzo Gracie in New York.
The full card is:
Main card

Rashad Evans v. Lyoto Machida
Matt Hughes v. Matt Serra
Drew McFedries v. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Dan Miller v. Chael Sonnen
Sean Sherk v. Frank Edgar

Fights may not be broadcast*

Brock Larson v. Chris Wilson
Pat Barry v. Tim Hague
Phillipe Nover v. Kyle Bradley
Krzysztof Soszynski v. Andre Gusmao
Yoshiyuki Yoshida v. Brandon Wolff
Dave Kaplan v. George Roop

Tickets for UFC 98 are still available. Visit ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

StrikeForce
StrikeForce's June "Challengers" Series has added a few fighters to the card. UFC vet Jorge Gurgel, Dennis Hallman and Connor Huen (rumored to be facing Gurgel) will be on the June 19 event. The to-be-determined match-ups will air on Showtime at 11 ET/PT from the Showare Center in Kent, WA (just south of Seattle).

StrikeForce's St. Louis, June 6th card has Joe Riggs going up against "New York Bad Fat Ass" Baroni. Rento "Babalu" has removed himself from his fight (due to the date being so close to the birth of his next child), filling in for him against Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante will be 10-1 Jared Hamman. Though Fiejao has "bigger" fights on his resume, he still has 3 less than Hamman. Neither fighter has gone to a decision; this should be a great slug-fest.

Also on the St. Louis card Rondonopolis-native "Cyborg" Santos will go up against Joey Villasenor. The welter weights join Robbie Lawler-Jake Sheilds and Scott Smith-Nick Diaz and others June 6th at the Scottrade Center in MO.
*A correction needs to be made to last weeks posting. Smith-Diaz will meet at a catch-weight of 180# rather than the previously reported 185#.

UFC ADDING TO ECONOMIC CRISIS
The UFC recently laid off 5 fighters (after sub-par performances at UFC 97, among other reasons). Joining the growing list is: Jason MacDonald, Previously-laid-off-the-rehired-then-refired David Loiseau, TUF finalist Vinny Magalhaes, Ryo Chonan, David Bielkheden and Akihiro Gono. Not GONO, what will we do without this::

Oh Gono, how we'll miss you..."

Tomorrow: "20 Questions" with UFC Ring Girl Logan Stanton, INJURY REPORT, RUMOR MILL, et cetra.

Miss something? Comments? Questions? E-mail me: samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com