Here is the press release from WVR, translated by Suki (Suki MMA)...
We regret to announce that Roger Gracie, who was supposed to fight Travis Wiuff on Sep. 28, will not be a participant at Sengoku 5. Here are the details of how this came about.No word on what the punishment will entail, but it'll be interesting to see how WVR deals with one of their up and coming and potentially very marketable, young fighter. On one hand, you would expect them not to burn any bridges with the youngster, but you would also expect them take effective action, so such incidents do not become common place within the organization. Roger Gracie and his management haven't made any replies to today's press release by WVR.
On Sep. 17, Kevin Liddle, who is Roger Gracie's doctor, emailed us and presented Roger's condition. In the email, he described that he ordered Roger complete bed rest for 4 weeks, because of damage to the intercostal muscles. Roger's manager actually contacted us a week ago and mentioned the possibility of Roger having an injury. We ordered him to submit a formal medical report of his injury from his doctor.
A WVR official doctor read the email and considered Roger's condition wasn't serious enough to cancel his fight. WVR asked Roger to submit additional information, such as an official medical report by his doctor, the result of CT scan and other related examinations he took. However, we didn't hear from Roger.
On Sep. 19, Roger contacted us and requested to have a phone meeting between Dr. Liddle and our doctor. Our doctor, translators and WVR staff were ready for the meeting, however, we couldn't reach Dr. Liddle. When Roger asked for a meeting, he agreed to let Dr. Liddle respond to our questions within 3 hours, but we didn't hear back from Dr. Liddle.
On Sep. 20, Dr. Liddle emailed us and reported that Roger didn't break nor fracture any bones and that he hasn't even taken any examinations.
WVR ordered Roger several times to arrive in Japan by Sep 22 and take an examination. He refused to come to Japan, stating he expected to have difficulty in breathing during the long flight. We haven't seen him in Japan yet and haven't heard anything from him. So, WVR decided to make this announcement today.
We apologize to Travis [Wiuff] and our fans for delivering this news at the last minute. As for Roger Gracie, we are considering issuing a severe punishment for the incident. We will find an opponent for Travis [Wiuff] as soon as we can.
We would like to thank Suki (Suki MMA) for the initial translation of the WVR press release. For more coverage of Japanese mma, please visit http://sukimma.blogspot.com
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