Sportsnet.ca -- Halifax's Roger (The Hulk) Hollett has been sidelined indefinitely because of a left knee injury he sustained on Saturday, forcing him to pull out of his MFC light heavyweight title defence on Nov. 23.
Hollett (7-1) suffered the injury on a takedown attempt by Florida's Lew Polley in the main event of Extreme Cage Combat 6: Hometown Heroes. It was the first loss of his MMA career as he competed for the world championship in front of his home crowd.
Hollett's trainer Peter Martell said the knee popped out of joint when he stepped back to avoid Polley's first takedown attempt in the first round. Despite Hollett's efforts to make it through the round, the referee called the fight at 4:02, handing Polley a TKO victory due to strikes.
On Thursday, Hollett told Sportsnet.ca he likely has a dislocated knee and will have an MRI to get a complete diagnosis Friday. While Hollett said he was able to put weight on the knee, Martell said he will rehab it for at least one month before starting to train again.
Hollett was scheduled to make the first title defence of his MFC belt against Ryan McClain in the main event of MFC 14: High Rollers. But the MFC was quick to replace the top fight for the November show in Edmonton, signing UFC veteran (Mr. International) Shonie Carter to take on Alberta's Brad Zazulak.
Carter, who was featured in Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter reality show and made an impression with his outlandish fashion sense and quirky personality, will make his first appearance in MFC.
"Shonie is a one-of-a-kind star athlete," said MFC president Mark Pavelich. "No one can match his style, his personality and definitely no one can match his wardrobe. But make no mistake - Shonie is a tremendous fighter and a very dangerous opponent.
"There are few fighters with his level of experience and even fewer who can finish a fight in so many different ways like Shonie can."
The 5-foot-9 welterweight's last official win in the UFC was in 2001 but it was a memorable one. Carter (66-14-7) scored a KO victory over Matt Serra with nine seconds remaining in the final round, finishing the fight with a trademark spinning backfist.
During his time on TUF, Carter eliminated Rich Clementi in the opening round before narrowly losing the semi-final to Serra by judges' decision. Serra, of course, went on to capture the UFC welterweight title which he holds today.
Zazulak, trained in the Miletich Fighting System, is unbeaten so far in his MMA career and is emerging as one of Canada's top middleweight prospects.
"Brad is absolutely no pushover and Shonie better be ready to fight," Pavelich said. "Brad has shown in past MFC events that his ready for bigger challenges and he eagerly accepted the opportunity to face such an accomplished veteran.
"He's going to have a lot of fans behind him but I know that Brad can carry the load and deliver." The event, MFC 14: High Rollers which will take place at the River Cree Resort and Casino, will also feature a showdown between unbeaten welterweights Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford and Mike Sorensen. Ford, from Edmonton, was a winner by submission over Adil Abbas at Saturday's event in Halifax.
