Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

The UFC injury bug has struck again, affecting one of the main bouts of UFC 87, as former UFC champ Mark Coleman had to withdraw from his bout with Brock Lesnar.

Coleman suffered a knee injury in training which will not allow him proper training time in his comeback fight. Coleman, who became the first-ever UFC heavyweight champ when he defeated Dan Severn in February 1997, has not competed in the organization since 1999's UFC 18. Following that bout, a loss to Pedro Rizzo, he moved over to the now-defunct PRIDE organization, where he spent the majority of his career.

Coleman has not competed since October 2006, when he lost to Fedor Emelianenko via a second-round arm bar.

Lesnar made his debut in February, suffering a kneebar loss to Frank Mir. Still, he looked impressive for most of the fight, employing takedowns and ground and pound before getting trapped in the submission hold to Mir, a jiu-jitsu black belt.

Despite that setback to the event, a major fight was added as newly crowned champ Georges St. Pierre will make his first title defense against Jon Fitch.

St. Pierre (16-2) re-captured his crown when he TKO'd Matt Serra at last month's event in his hometown, Montreal.

The 27-year-old St. Pierre is considered by many to be among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and is known for his explosiveness and athleticism. He also holds notable wins over Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn in his career.

The 30-year-old Fitch (17-2) is riding one of the longest winning streaks in MMA, with 15 straight victories dating back to July 2003. After defeating Chris Wilson via unanimous decision in March, Fitch was declared the No. 1 contender by UFC President Dana White.

After defeating Wilson, Fitch made waves in the MMA world when he questioned St. Pierre's willingness to take a hit, saying he was gunshy since being KO'd by Matt Serra in April 2007.

"I see it," he told NBCSports.com then. "He uses his standup to set up his wrestling. It looks like he's not wanting to get hit with one big punch. It happens to a lot of fighters when they get knocked out. Some of them shake it and some don't."

Fitch was a Division I wrestler at Purdue, but St. Pierre has showed impeccable wrestling skills, outmaneuvering decorated wrestlers like Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes en route to wins.

Lightweight contenders Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian will also face off in another featured bout on the card, with the winner likely to become that division's No. 1 contender.

The Coleman injury was the latest in a recent rash of injuries that have caused re-shuffling in a number of cards. UFC 85 has seen multiple changes due to injuries sustained by Chuck Liddell, Shogun Rua, Paul Kelly and James Irvin.

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