UFC 142 Downsized to 10 Bouts with Maldonado Withdrawal
Brazilian light heavyweight Fabio
Maldonado has pulled out of his Saturday meeting with
countryman Caio
Magalhaes at UFC
142 after suffering an injury in training.
UFC officials Sunday confirmed Maldonado’s withdrawal via the company’s Portuguese-language Twitter account, adding that the card for the Jan. 14 event at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena will stand at 10 bouts. Maldonado’s manager, Alex Davis, told Tatame.com that his fighter hurt his ribs during training on Jan. 7.
UFC 142, which airs live on pay-per-view with preliminary bouts on Fox cable channel FX, will be headlined by top-ranked featherweight Jose Aldo’s title defense against undefeated wrestler Chad Mendes. Welterweight standout Anthony Johnson moves up to 185 pounds to face hometown hero Vitor Belfort in the co-main event.
Maldonado, 31, suffered his first loss since 2007 last June when he was outpointed by Kyle Kingsbury in a tight affair at the “Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 finale. The Team Nogueira puncher had rattled off 11 consecutive wins with seven knockouts and three submissions.
It is currently unknown when Magalhaes -- who signed with the UFC last month when Maldonado’s original opponent, Stanislav Nedkov, ran into visa troubles -- will make his Octagon debut. The 24-year-old is unbeaten through five fights as a middleweight.
UFC officials Sunday confirmed Maldonado’s withdrawal via the company’s Portuguese-language Twitter account, adding that the card for the Jan. 14 event at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena will stand at 10 bouts. Maldonado’s manager, Alex Davis, told Tatame.com that his fighter hurt his ribs during training on Jan. 7.
UFC 142, which airs live on pay-per-view with preliminary bouts on Fox cable channel FX, will be headlined by top-ranked featherweight Jose Aldo’s title defense against undefeated wrestler Chad Mendes. Welterweight standout Anthony Johnson moves up to 185 pounds to face hometown hero Vitor Belfort in the co-main event.
Maldonado, 31, suffered his first loss since 2007 last June when he was outpointed by Kyle Kingsbury in a tight affair at the “Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 finale. The Team Nogueira puncher had rattled off 11 consecutive wins with seven knockouts and three submissions.
It is currently unknown when Magalhaes -- who signed with the UFC last month when Maldonado’s original opponent, Stanislav Nedkov, ran into visa troubles -- will make his Octagon debut. The 24-year-old is unbeaten through five fights as a middleweight.
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