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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Mike Swick's return to the UFC has been postponed once again, as the welterweight posted on Facebook that his scheduled bout with David Mitchell at next month's UFC Fight for the Troops event has been canceled.
"Not fighting on January 22nd," Swick wrote. "I got the call yesterday that David Mitchell backed out due to an injury and considering my current situation we opted to put off the fight all together. I have been dealing with with my esophageal condition this whole camp and its taken a toll on my body. I will need more time to seek better treatment to ensure I can compete at this level."
The condition Swick mentions is something he's been battling for a considerable amount of time. It negatively affected him into his last bout, a submission loss to Paulo Thiago in February at UFC 109, and it has kept him out of action since then.
"[It's] just a really bad condition to have as a pro athlete," he continued. "I got into Martial Arts to push myself [and] compete [with] the best fighters [and] athletes in the world. To give it my all, entertain [and] inspire others to chase their dreams. At this point I am not near at my best [and don't] wanna take a fight just for a paycheck when I cannot deliver what I've worked hard on for 23 years."
UFC Fight for the Troops will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Melvin Guillard and Evan Dunham, and will air live on Spike TV on January 22 from Fort Hood in Texas.
Penick's Analysis: That's really unfortunate news to hear for Swick. He had believed doctors had figured out the issue, and he was supposedly to get an updated treatment that was going to hopefully be better than what he had been doing. Now, with him continuing to seek out better ways to treat this issue, it may take him a considerable amount of time to return to form, if he's able to do so at all. For his sake I hope he's able to get it in check, but it doesn't sound like he's any closer to a solution than he was a few months ago.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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