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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Todd Duffee won't get a chance to follow up on his spectacular seven second knockout this December, as a report from Sherdog.com states that he has had to pull out of his scheduled bout with Paul Buentello at UFC 107 due to an undisclosed injury.
Said Duffee, "(Withdrawing) was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make...It was a fight I was really looking forward to. We really matched up well."
A replacement to face the returning Buentello has not yet been determined, but the report states both Mike Russow and Stefan Struve have been brought to him as possibilities.
Russow made a successful UFC debut in August with a unanimous decision over Justin McCully. Struve had his most impressive UFC performance just over a week ago at UFC 104, picking up a first round submission victory over Chase Gormley.
Buentello will make his first appearance in the Octagon since February of 2006. He's lost only two bouts in the last six years, both coming in Title fights, and will look to make an announcement with his return to the now much deeper UFC heavyweight division.
Penick's Analysis: I'd love to see what Struve could do against a fighter as experienced as Buentello, though it may not be a bad idea to give the 21 year old more time to develop before throwing him to the top fighters in the division. He's going to be really good in a couple of years. Russow may not be a bad choice at all for Buentello to reintroduce himself to the UFC audience or for Russow to make a second statement in the division as well. Either would be a good choice but I'd lean toward Russow at this point to be the opponent.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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