Heavyweight MMA will always need new blood. Always. It's a division built around a few oldguard powerhouses who always seem to be slowly fading away, while talent springs up around them, out of nowhere, only to get stamped right back down, or almost immediately become the next old guard powerhouse. I mean, Fabricio Werdum was five years into his career when he fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Pride, in 2006. The fact that Werdum would go on to beat rising top contender Travis Brown, in 2014, is just the kind of weird and remarkable environment that heavyweight MMA breeds.

Thus, when promising heavyweight talent comes on the scene, it's almost always heralded as "the next big thing." And no fighter seemed more the next big thing than Todd Duffee. He stormed out of the gates in 2009, on the back of a five fight KO streak, to make an incredible UFC debut, dusting Tim Hague in only seven seconds. A miracle come from behind KO by Mike Russow in his next fight (and a few poorly chosen comments about his pay) saw Duffee out on the regionals, to get crushed on short notice by Alistair Overeem. A win later and heavyweight being the ever-weak division that it is, and Duffee made his return to the UFC. But, after another stellar debut KO, he went down to injury and he's been there a while.

Duffee was diagnosed with Parsonage-Turner Syndrome. Brachial neuritis as it is also known is a neural affliction in which swelling affects the neural pathways around the neck shoulders and chest, causing pain, numbness, and in sever cases atrophy. Apparently it's fairly normal for sufferers of the disorder to recover within a year or two, but for an athlete in his prime, that's a lot of time on the sidelines. But, it now appears Duffee has fully recovered from his bout with the brachial neuritis, as he announced his desire to get a return fight booked, on The Underground.

I am ready to GO! Any suggestions the UG has on who they would like me to see me fight next.

Hopefully he can come back at full strength as, still at only 28-years of age, he's one of the UFC's youngest and most promising heavyweight talents. He was looking for bout ideas, and bouts with Anthony Hamilton or Richard Odoms both sound like good ideas for a fighter returning after a long injury battle.