UFC 98: Xavier Foupa-Pokam to replace an injured James Irvin against Drew McFedries on May 23
By: Jesse Holland
Set to return from a nine-month suspension at UFC 98, James Irvin will have to wait just a little bit longer to debut at middleweight after a knee injury has forced him to withdraw from his bout against Drew McFedries at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 23.
MMAWeekly is reporting that UFC sophomore Xavier Foupa-Pokam will step in and take his place..
“Professor X” (20-10) came up short in his UFC debut after a tough unanimous decision loss to Denis Kang at UFC 97 from The Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 18.
Prior to entering the UFC, the Cage Rage and Palace Fighting Championship (PFC) veteran was riding a six-fight win streak. In fact, he’s dropped just two fights in his last 14 attempts – the decision to Kang and a submission loss to Murilo “Ninja” Rua back in December 2007.
The French fighter has a nice mix of submissions and (technical) knockouts on his resume. He is definitely an experienced, capable and dangerous fighter that McFedries — who needs a win bad here — cannot underestimate.
“Massacre” has had a rollercoaster career inside the Octagon, winning every other fight and being unable to string together consecutive wins in six attempts with the promotion.
That is until he locked horns with Thales Leites on short notice at UFC 90: “Silva vs. Cote” back in October 2008. McFedries dropped his second consecutive bout courtesy of a first round submission (rear naked choke). He lost to Mike Massenzio via submission (kimura) at UFC Fight Night 15 in Omaha, Neb., on September 17, before the loss to the Brazilian.
It’s now or never — perhaps for both men. A loss for Foupa-Pokam would take him to 0-2 inside the cage. Not a good place to be considering Zuffa’s recent roster cuts.
UFC 98 will feature the light heavyweight title fight between Rashad Evans and undefeated challenger Lyoto Machida. Also on the May 23 card, former UFC welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra will finally settle their eternal grudge match.
For the latest UFC 98 fight card and rumors click here.
51 Comments »
i think the headline is wrong
Jesse: Pass whatever you are smoking hommie! lol
whatever Jesse is smoking….I want in on that! lol
you know how you know this event blows? When the match up that interests me the most other then the main event is a Yushin Okami fight!
Only possible way I could enjoy this main event between 2 welterweights that currently dont have the skills to even be in the top 10 (only in the top 10 because of their names)…..is if Matt SErra does to Hughes what he did to GSP in their 1st fight and Knock’s Matt “THe smug Chipmunk” Hughes into retirment…or at the very least shatter Hughes jaw, so it gets wired shut and we dont have to hear that crap that flows out of his mouth for a couple of months!
I know that the main event will be great, at least for a die hard fan like myself who enjoys strategic match ups….but I have a feeling that the majority of this site is going to be very disaspointed by this main event, the day after the fight….people bitching about the way the Evan/Machida fight plays out will dominate this website for weeks following this fight…not looking forward to that at all!
Question: Take away the main event, because all UFC ppv’s should have great main events….Am I being too Harsh on this card, or do you guys think its sucks as much as I do?
I know for certain that this event isnt getting my $45….My ass will be planted at a hooters on that night!
“THe Smug Chipmunk”. Nice
should be a horrible night, alot of none-fighting fighters on the card…
good for me that i see everything for free, cause the main-event is a must see, even if the fight s*cks!
My question is, does this fight stay on the main card? That would be WEAK!!! But, there aren’t even any undercard fights I really care about. Generally, the card on Memorial Day weekend is stacked. I guess 100, 101, and 102 are getting all the best fights.
yeah, main card fights suck, undercard fights sucks…its just a mess. Like you said, traditionally the memorial day weekend event is usually one of the best cards of the year….This is the worst memorial day event in years! I dont know what the hell is on the UFC’s mind when they put together this crap!
Obviously…I’m stoked about the main event. I think this card has some decent fights on it but I don’t really care for many of the fighters that will be featured. I think the Sherk/Edgar fight will be solid and I’m hoping Okami sends a message to Silva, the division, and the fans that he should be in the mix for contention. I’m not some huge Okami fan but the guy has done nothing but win with the exception of a narrow defeat at the hands of Rich. He should be fighting one of the top dogs like Nate or Hendo or Bisping to get a crack at the title.
I don’t like Serra or Hughes but I guess if I have to root for someone it’ll be Serra cause I want it to look like someone decent beat GSP instead of someone that couldn’t even take out an over the hill one dimensional fighter like Hughes.
Hopefully this is another case of a weak card on paper blowing our expectations out of the water. I’m just stoked to see Rashad lay out Machida.
who has a lot of MAniac regulars as friends on facebook?
Not me McArthur, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
I got Mania and Jesse on mine, but no regulars. Facebook is cool for like a month, then it’s just… whatever…
I have no friends at all from mania except for Jesse..
BNF-
Agreed. Facebook made me feel too much like a teenager. I dropped it and I just stick to email/texting my buddies.
It was also great when about 20 girls from my past requested me as their friend. It was nice having to explain to my wife who they all were and if I banged them or not. “Naw baby, that one just gave me a hummer.” And she can’t say sh*t about it because I didn’t know her then.
LOL.
LMFAO, BNF!
WAR PRO X!!!
Great replacement,This fight got way more better then it was IMO.
BNF, you still on? Anyone else on?
I’m under: fjb75@yahoo.com
I was hoping for Nate Quarry to replace him. But Professor X is good. Hopefully he sends McFedries packing.
Also, sorry if anyone thought that Nate actaully WAS the replacement. When I posted that one the TUF recap thread it was me saying “I hope Nate…” blah blah.
Okami is injured and off the 98 card against Miller.
This card is cursed.
And whatever slim chance Okami had at ever attaining a title shot has to be gone for the forseeable future.
Best news of the day!
Dana promised that an awesome middleweight would replace Okami. NO idea who it could be!
still depressed james irvin is off, just two days ago on his facebook group i told some guy when he was fighting and a day later i find out hes injured. damnit! i probably wont order this card, not worth 50 bucks because it looks pretty boring. fight of the night possiblities are this fight, sherk-edgar, yoshida-wolf and philippe vs bradley. guaranteed finish fight is houston vs gusmao, and the pat barry fight.
)
50/50 fight is machida rashad. it is either going to be as bad as a yushin okami fight or be a total war with the two division kings right now. (even though shogun and rampage are better
Not only that Jesse!”a hard fought unanimous decision loss” Was that a joke?
Jesse is just typing a little fast today that all, maybe multitasking a little too much.
The title should say drew mcfedries not terry martin……. damn i really want to see the sandman fight again always entertaining.
“James Irvin will have to wait just a little bit longer to debut at welterweight ”
Also shouldn’t that be middleweight?
Hey Jesse, did you leave your A game at home today? lol, just bustin ballz my dude!
Terry Martin? lol
Jesse: Terry martin? r u trying to say that all us black people look alike?(lol) Mania, how could you employ such a racist dude. I am appalled! hahahahah…teasing, Im not even black!
I don’t think Terry Martin could ever get a rematch against the Sandman after the most famous flying knee ever.
I’m trying to set a record for how many times I can fuck myself in one post. I think we have a new winner folks.
I think you definitely are the new title holder! Its all good Jesse. when you arent bashing me, you usually do great work around here….I take shots at your Bitch ass on a daily basis(lol), but thats only because I truly am a fan of your work!…..Just not today! lol
Will Professor X get a title shot with a win over the mediocre McFedries like Leites did?
Truth.
How the hell does he stay in the UFC?
He has little to no ground game.
Can anybody explain?
Probebly because when he does win(which is 1 out of 5 fights) He wins by very exiting, very visious and mean knockout.
And he is one of Matt Hughes’ buddies
I remember McFed getting put to sleep by a skinny white boy several years ago on national TV…
That skinny white boy was Martin Kampmann you arrogant twit!!
You know what’s funny is everytime there seems to be a horrible card, it always ends up being a great night of fights. I see this card going that way.
Agreed lol 96 was entertaining,I thought 95 was way better But Im excited for 99!!
those cards looked good tho. they all had entertaining fighters just not big names. this card has alot of guys known to be boring. the way i see fight cards is the lower name guys go all out to raise there stock which is why 95 and 96 were good. this card is packed with big names but most of the fighters are known to have snorefests
This card just got a whole lot worse, the Sandman is one of my favorite fighter and noone can replace him… this fight will be garbage.
hells f-in yeah!!!!! hes in my top 5 fighters and ive been anxious for his return since last july!!!
*yawn* is McFedries still stinking up the joint? I wonder if he’d of got a title shot if he beat Leites.
UFC generally make great fights. Bet every now and then they come up with some real yawn inducing head scratches. Im still shocked Leites was even given a title shot. Then moan at Silva for not wanting to play Jiu Jitsu.
this card sucks…
the only fight i’m looking forward to is the yushin fight, main and event…
now that irvin is out it’s gonna suck
I think everyones being too hard on the 98 card, it looks good to me. Evans-Machida should be a great technical fight that could go either way, with Lyoto getting the recognition that he deserves, Hughes-Serra should be a good scrap, if 18 months too late and grudge matches are always fun to watch (well except Kos-Diego) and Okami-Miller won’t be that bad, though I’m a fan of the Miller brothers and I’ve not seen Okami fight often so I’m biased. Sherk-Edgar has the potential to be as good as Sherk-Griffin and hopefully Larson-Wilson will be brought up to the undercard as that has the makings of a great fight.
This one will be on the prelims and will probabaly finish early like most McFedries fights (hopefully he’ll be gone when he loses, I’m still annoyed that he is in the UFC video game at the expense of guys like Randy Couture, Shane Carwin and the Miller brothers as well as Clay Guida, as I wanted to destroy him) and all of the prelims have the potential to end early so hopefully we’ll get to see a few.
he is not in the video game at anyone’s expense… Randy Couture would have wanted to be in it, he would have been.
mcfedries is getting ktfo!!!!!
I’m excited about this fight. They’re both going to just bang it out on the feet like Irvin vs. McFedries would have been. Pokam has some flashy standup and this is a fight where he can strike the whole time.