Hurricane Ike is still reeking its havoc on the WEC 36 card scheduled for South Florida.
The event was originally set to take place on September 10 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., but the threat of the massive storm scared the promotion into rescheduling the show for November 5.
Because of the switch, Danillo "Indio" Villefort (8-2) -- who was set to face Jake Rosholt in a middleweight bout on the card -- has now been forced to return to Brazil because his temporary visa has expired and he will be unable to file the necessary paperwork in time for a new one, according to InTheGuard.tv.
Here's a snip from "Indio:"
"I’m sad, I was very prepared and with my visa ok [for September 10], but the hurricane postponed the show and my lawyer said I’d be irregular for November."
Now that the heavier weight classes, including middleweight, have been removed from all future WEC events, Villefort will likely miss his chance to compete in the organization. But he feels confident he'll still make his way onto a Zuffa card under the UFC banner sometime in 2009:
"The Hurricane threw the event for November and my fight to 2009, I believe. I’ll come strong and I’ll show my game in UFC or WEC, this is a promise."
Rosholt (4-0) -- who was featured on episode four of season two of the popular TapouT reality show on The Versus Network -- has yet to make his highly touted debut for the WEC and will await word on a possible replacement. If an opponent is not found to replace Villefort expect to see the former Oklahoma State University wrestling standout compete in the Octagon soon.
Real soon.
Johny Hendricks (3-0) -- Rosholt's former OSU teammate and current Team Takedown training partner who was also featured on the same episode of TapouT -- was also set to fight at WEC 36 against Alex Serdyukov (12-4), but that bout has been moved to WEC 37 on December 3 in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
Both Rosholt and Hendricks were national champion collegiate wrestlers as Cowboys.
WEC 36 will be headlined by a featherweight championship match between champion Urijah Faber (21-1) and challenger Mike Brown (19-4), and WEC 37 will be main evented by a bantamweight title bout between champion Miguel Torres (34-1) and challenger Manny "The Mangler" Tapia (10-0-1).
Get the latest gear
