BREAKING | Frankie Edgar out of UFC Denver main event, Yair Rodriguez to step in vs Chan Sung Jung

UFC Denver has shaped up to be a great card. In the co-main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is set to take on Mike Perry. While in the main event Franke Edgar was set to fight Chan Sung Jung, but better known as “The Korean Zombie”.

However, according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Edgar is out due to an injury. While featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez will step in on short notice.

Okamoto is reporting Edgar is out of the fight due to a torn left bicep. The good news for the former UFC champion is that Edgar won’t require surgery. The bad news, however, was this fight against the Korean Zombie was most likely a title eliminator bout. With a win, Edgar could get back on track and realistically fight the winner of Max Holloway vs Brian Ortega at UFC 231.

On the bright side for UFC fans is that Rodriguez will step in on short notice. “El Pantera” hasn’t fought since May 2017 where he suffered a TKO loss to Edgar. He was supposed to fight Zabit Magomedsharipov this year but had to pull out due to an injury.

Rodriguez was also almost cut by the UFC this year for being tough to negotiate with. Ultimately, the UFC decided to keep the Mexico native and he is now doing the promotion a huge favor by stepping in to fight a tough opponent on short notice.

For Jung, he hasn’t fought February 2017 against Dennis Bermudez. Now that he is back after a knee injury, he is looking to make his way up the featherweight rankings to an eventual second career title shot. Fighting Edgar would have shown he is still the same fighter he was before. Now, he will have to switch focus to Rodriguez.

UFC Fight Night 139 goes down on November 10, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. It is also the UFC’s 25th-anniversary show.

Who do you think wins the new main event fight between Rodriguez and Jung?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/26/2018