Knee Injury Ends Cantwell’s UFC 120 Bid

By Mike Whitman Oct 15, 2010
Former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion Steve Cantwell (pictured left) has been forced to withdraw from his undercard bout against Stanislav Nedkov at UFC 120 “Bisping vs. Akiyama” on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.

Cantwell suffered a torn knee ligament during a training session on Thursday, according to Fighters Only magazine. With the injury having occurred less than 48 hours before the event, there was no time to find a suitable replacement. Nedkov will still be paid his show money by the UFC.

This marks the latest of Cantwell’s injury woes. He has not fought since he lost a rematch to Brian Stann at UFC Fight Night in September 2009. “The Robot” was supposed to face Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 108, only to be pulled for undisclosed reasons. Then in July, Cantwell was expected to fight Ricardo Romero at UFC 116 but again was forced to pull out without explanation.

UFC 120 will be headlined by a middleweight clash between hometown favorite Michael Bisping and Yoshihiro Akiyama.