A glance at the lineup for UFC 112, and it was quickly evident that Zuffa meant business with its show, scheduled for its April 10 show in Abu Dhabi.

The original card featured lightweight champion B.J. Penn taking on Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie and some guy named Anderson Silva, maybe the best fighter in the world, defending his middleweight title against the quick, heavy handed striker Vitor Belfort.

But, last week, Belfort was forced to pull out of the anticipated matchup with Silva due to an injury. In his place, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Demian Maia, fresh off a decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 109, has agreed to fill in against Silva.

The selection of Maia as Belfort’s replacement is an interesting one. Potentially, the UFC could have pulled a young, up-and-coming and exciting fighter like Jon “Bones” Jones, who is scheduled to take on Brandon Vera at the company’s Fight Night, scheduled for March 21, or perhaps legendary fighter Randy Couture, who took minimal damage in his victory over Mark Coleman in the main event of UFC 109 to face Silva.

Instead, the company chose Maia, which makes for a vastly different fight than a Silva-Belfort matchup would have. Silva-Belfort figured to be an exciting standup battle. Maia, on the other hand, has displayed, at best, average standup skills. At worst, as he displayed in his stunning knockout loss to Nate Marquardt, his standup is very poor. So, it figures that Maia will try to take Silva to the ground.

In the end, that could be interesting. If the fight does go to the ground, Maia has the advantage. In fact, the only round that Silva has ever lost came in a fight against Dan Henderson, in which Henderson took him to the ground. Of course, if it stays standing, well, it doesn’t figure to be a long fight.

UFC 110

UFC 110 will take lace Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The card is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez and a middleweight fight between Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva. Also, former heavyweight star and talented striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will take on Ben Rothwell on the card and Ryan Bader and Keith Jardine will do battle in a light heavyweight battle.

Spike TV will air the “Countdown to UFC 110: sow Feb. 18 at 11 p.m.

Johnson injured

UFC welterweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was forced to pull out of his “UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones,” fight against John Howard this week with a knee injury.

Please no, please no

Here’s one for the “something nobody wants to see” department.

Jose Canseco reportedly met with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker regarding Canseco’s MMA future.

Strikeforce doesn’t have the star power that the UFC has, but they have been putting on great shows. The company certainly doesn’t need a freak show fight in Canseco. Yes, the company did just put Herschel Walker into a cage for a fight, but Walker is a legit freak of nature. He also is a long-time MMA practitioner.

And, Walker is the guy that Canseco wants to fight. The two are not even in the same area code in terms of in-cage ability. Walker as asked about fighting Canseco, and he took it for what it was and should be – a joke.

In short, Walker said “I will hurt him.”

Do you feel Canseco stands a chance against Walker?