Drew Fickett replaces Joe Riggs against Luke Stewart at Strikeforce

Once again Luke Stewart's opponent has been changed for his welterweight fight taking place tomorrow night on the Strikeforce: "Melendez vs Thomson" at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.
This latest news comes on the eve of the event and it is the second time in less than two weeks that his opponent has been switched.
Stewart was originally set to mix it up with Shonie Carter, but after "Mr. International" shattered his knuckle in training, Strikeforce announced Joe "Diesel" Riggs as the replacement. There were some questions about Riggs' health after his last fight in ended prematurely because he re-aggravated a prior back injury.
Today, the California State Athletic Commision (CSAC) decided it wasn't going to allow Riggs to compete tomorrow night. According to Riggs' agent, Ken Pavia via MMARated.com, however, the back injury was not the reason for this decision. Rather, it was because Riggs took a prescribed percocet three days ago.
Instead of taking the chance of it just not showing up on the drug test, Riggs decided to come clean and inform the CSAC.
So with little time to find a replacement, Strikeforce pulled a rabbit out of its hat named Drew Fickett, who will be step in on super short notice.
This is a mind-boggling replacement.
Fickett was supposed to fight Jake Shields on June 14 in Hawaii for the Elite XC welterweight title, but informed the company he injured his knee and could not go through with the fight. Elite XC later learned that Fickett had accepted two other fights right around the same time he was supposed to fight Shields instead.
Needless to say, Elite XC was not happy with Fickett deceiving them, and he was believed to be dropped from its roster. This is just another episode in the soap opera that is Drew Fickett these days.
Nonetheless, he will, in fact, fight Luke Stewart tomorrow night at Strikeforce: "Melendez vs. Thomson" at a catchweight of 185 pounds.
Stylistically, a bout between Fickett and Stewart looks to be a very entertaining jiu-jitsu match. It's just a shame for Stewart that he once again will have to adjust his gameplan for this fight.
He's coming off his first loss as a professional mixed martial artist, and this is just more adversity being thrown his way in what has proven to be a bizarre chain of events.
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DREW FICKETT HAS BEEN PULLED OFF This fight card!
No idea who Luke Stewart will face !
by john on Jun 27, 2008 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions
That really sucks for Stewart. IMO it seems that they actually kept bringing in tougher competition each time a bout fell through.
by naturalshadow on Jun 27, 2008 1:45 AM EDT reply actions
I totally agree. I kind of feel bad for him, but I still think he’s capable of pulling out the win. I think Fickett is a better fighter than Riggs, but his style is more similar to Stewart’s, which may or may not be a good thing for Luke. We’ll see, I guess.
by tha spida on Jun 27, 2008 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Props to Luke for being willing to compete against anyone that they throw at him.
by lukefan on Jun 27, 2008 2:13 AM EDT reply actions
Fickett is going to win in a dominating fashion, such a cruel thing to do to Stewart though.
by DirtyML on Jun 27, 2008 3:10 AM EDT reply actions
fickett is out now too… his contract with MFC out of canada is preventing this fight because he fights ryan ford on there card july 25th…
by Dubyac on Jun 27, 2008 7:02 AM EDT reply actions
This sucks, one of my favorite fighters is now replaced by one of my least favorite fighters. If Riggs is still needing percocet maybe he should take a little more time anyways, hopefully the next time we see him fighting his back will be in better shape.
by Haze on Jun 27, 2008 8:56 AM EDT reply actions
Poor Luke Stewart, he trained all that time… now he has nobody to fight.
by "Mr. NC-17" on Jun 27, 2008 9:05 AM EDT reply actions
all of ficketts nonsense looks bad 4 the sport. hopefully they cut his fight in canada ! give the WEASEL a taste of his own medicine. thats actually a good handle 4 him “DREW THE WEASEL FICKETT”. its 2 bad because hes not a bad fighter. there r alot worse 2 say the least.
by neon on Jun 27, 2008 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

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