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If Anthony Pettis gets clearance to return for the Aug. 31 UFC 164 event in his hometown of Milwaukee, would you put him into T.J. Grant's slot against Ben Henderson? Why or why not?
DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK COLUMNIST
It's hard to believe the Anthony Pettis injury is significant enough not to fight Jose Aldo yet, in his own words, not significant enough to keep him out of a Benson Henderson fight later the same month. Dana White saying Pettis needs to see a doctor in Las Vegas is merely a smokescreen and I don't believe a word of it.
Within a few weeks, he'll be medically cleared and inserted into the main event in Milwaukee. I just wish they would be more honest about the situation. Pettis should just admit he made a mistake and jumped the gun when instigating the Aldo fight. UFC should admit they made a mistake by not waiting until the Henderson vs. Melendez fight played out.
Pettis will eventually get what he wanted in the first place. UFC will get the main event they really want - knowing it will sell significantly more PPV's. We the fans get the fight we've wanted to see since both guys left WEC. Only poor T.J. Grant misses out, but the big bag of cash he's going to get will surely cushion the blow.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I would not, but the UFC probably will. He is WAY more of an exciting fighter and a much larger draw than T.J. Grant. You can forget the fact it might be unfair to other fighters, but Dana White and Zuffa are not interested in fairness. They are only interested in the amount of money they can make on any given fight.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I would because Pettis is the real #1 contender. The only reason he wasn't scheduled for this fight was that he was supposed to fight Jose Aldo. It's unfortunate for Grant and I would feel bad for him, but he could get the winner of Henderson vs. Pettis. I think that would be a good way to handle this.
C.J. TUTTLE, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Emphatically no. I'm upset to begin with due to the Korean Zombie being removed from his fight at 162 because of Pettis, and Pettis taking Grant's place would mess up another intriguing main event. If you want to do anything, have Grant fight Pettis and truly earn a title fight, instead of being just consistently placed in them.
CAMERON LYMAN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
This is very hard to answer. If I were Dana White, I would throw Pettis in as it would be a highly anticipated and marketable fight. You can't deny that Pettis should be fighting for a title. He decided to fight Guida instead of wait for his title shot back when he joined the UFC and the UFC owes the shot to him here. They haven't put a ton of marketing dollars into the Grant\Henderson match up, so an opponent switch here is not a big deal to them. As a fight fan, I can't help but feel sorry for Grant. Pettis went down to a division he has never fought in and leap frogged the contenders there to a title shot. Now that he's lost his shot there, he wants to bud in front of Grant who has already been promised a shot.
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