Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard Roger Gracie withdrew from his heavyweight fight against MMA legend Travis "Diesel" Wiuff at Sengoku 5 due to an alleged injury sustained in training on September 16.

Gracie (2-0) was set to compete at the September 28 event until an errant kick during sparring caused what his camp described as "An intermuscular tear to the intercostal muscle between the sixth and seventh left ribs".

Rogwash, according to officials from World Victory Road (WVR).

An apology was issued today by WVR on the Sengoku website for Gracie's absence, as well as a detailed account of the efforts put forth to verify the injury with both Gracie and his doctor.

Here is a translation of the letter, courtesy of the lovely Suki MMA:

We regret to announce that Roger Gracie, who was supposed to fight Travis Wiuff on Sep 28, won't fight in Sengoku 5. We will tell you how it came about.

On Sep 17, Kevin Liddle (who is the doctor of Roger Gracie) Emailed us and reported Roger's condition. In the Email, he described that he ordered Roger complete bed rest for 4 weeks because of the damages to his intercostal muscles. Roger's manager actually contacted us a week ago and mentioned about the possibility of Roger's injury. We ordered him to submit a formal doctor's note in the case of his injury.

WVR's official doctor read the Email and considered that Roger's condition wasn't serious enough to cancel the fight. WVR asked Roger to submit additional information such as an official doctor's note and the result of a CT scan or other close examinations he took. However, we didn't hear back from Roger.

On Sep 19, Roger contacted us and requested to have a phone meeting between Dr. Liddle and our doctor. Our doctor, translators and WVR staff were ready for the meeting, however, we were unable to contact Dr. Liddle. When Roger asked for a meeting, he agreed to let Dr. Liddle respond to our questions within 3 hours, but again we didn't hear from Dr. Liddle.

On Sep 20, Dr. Liddle Emailed us and reported that Roger didn't break or crack any bones and that he hadn't even taken an examination.

WVR ordered Roger to arrive in Japan by Sep 22 and take an examination many times. He refused to come to Japan because he expected to have difficulty in breathing during a long flight. We haven't seen him in Japan yet and haven't heard anything from him. So, WVR decided to make this announcement today.

We apologize to Travis and our fans for delivering this news at the last minute. As for Roger Gracie, we are considering punishing him severely. We will find an opponent for Travis as soon as we can.

From the tone of this letter it sounds like Gracie has a lot of explaining to do. Not just to World Victory Road, but to his fans and even Travis Wiuff.

Stay tuned as this story continues to develop.