Although a recent trip to the doctor did provide Jeremy Horn (80-18-5 MMA, 7-6 UFC) some good news -- his wrist isn't broken, as he first thought -- it also came with some bad: he won't be able to compete at UFC Fight Night 15 later this month.
Horn today confirmed his wrist injury with MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com), and sources close to the fighter said that Ryan Jensen (13-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) will return to the UFC to serve as his replacement.
Jensen meets Wilson Gouveia (10-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) at the upcoming "Fight Night" event, which takes place Sept. 17 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Neb.
The event airs live on Spike TV.
"I have been having a problem with my wrist for about the last month," Horn told MMAjunkie.com. "I went to a doctor and had him look at it the other day, and he says I've got some tendons and ligaments and stuff torn in there. I thought I may have had a broken bone in there, but it was ligaments and tendons and stuff.
"I have no grip strength, I can't make a fist, and I can't punch anything. I'm pretty useless."
Although Horn won't go under the knife, he knows his recovery could keep him sidelined for a while.
"The doctor said the wrist is just one of those things that sometimes a break is actually easier because you fix it and cast it and let it heal," he said. "But with sprains and tears and stuff like that, there's nothing you can really do with except try and stay off of it and let it heal."
UFC FIGHT NIGHT 15
Sept. 17 in Omaha, Neb. (Spike TV)
MAIN CARD
Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer
Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida
Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer
Alan Belcher vs. Ed Herman
Kyle Bradley vs. Joe Lauzon
Wilson Gouveia vs. Ryan Jensen
PRELIMINARY CARD
Drew McFedries vs Mike Massenzio
Jason Brilz vs. Brad Morris
Rob Kimmons vs. Dan Miller
Alessio Sakara vs. Joe Vedepo
Despite being one of MMA's most-experienced fighters -- with more than 100 professional bouts -- he's lost his past two fights (both in the UFC) and three of his past four. Horn knows he's guaranteed nothing when it comes to his future in the UFC.
"I'm hoping [I'll return to the UFC]," he said. "I'm just going to keep training as much as I can around my hand. Hopefully they'll have somebody get hurt and fall out in a future show again and I'll be ready to go."
Jensen, meanwhile, will return to the octagon for his third shot at a UFC victory. The Omaha-based fighter posted a stellar 11-1 record to earn an invitation to the UFC, but he was dropped by the organization after first-round submission losses to Thales Leites and Demian Maia. Since then, he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Joey Villasenor at a Strikeforce/EliteXC show, but he's rebounded for first-round TKO victories over Mitch Whitesel and Aaron Praschak.
His opponent, Gouveia, had recently posted four consecutive victories in the UFC (three via submission and one via knockout) before a second-round TKO loss to UFC newcomer Goran Reljic in May at UFC 84. It was the American Top Team fighter's first loss since a unanimous-decision defeat to Keith Jardine in June 2006.
