Bahadurzada injured and out of UFC 149, Matt Riddle to face Chris Clements
UFC officials announced late Saturday night that Siyar Bahadurzada was the latest fighter to drop from UFC 149 due to injury. Bahadurzada’s scheduled opponent, Chris Clements, will now face Matt Riddle.
The Afghan-born fighter responded woth a series of tweets to fans this afternoon:
(1/2)Thank u all for the cool tweets! I’m sorry i’ve let u down! When i’m back i’ll make it up with another KO of a top 5 fighter! @ufc
— Siyar Bahadurzada (@SiyarTheGreat) July 1, 2012
(2/2)I’m used to walking by motionless bodies since my childhood in Afghanistan. I’ll walk by a few more in the @UFC to conquer the WW belt!
— Siyar Bahadurzada (@SiyarTheGreat) July 1, 2012
RT @ufc: UFC 149: oh sweet mercy…. Siyar out injured, new bout is Chris Clements vs Matt Riddle
— Siyar Bahadurzada (@SiyarTheGreat) July 1, 2012
This fight was originally between Thiago Alves and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Bahadurzada stepped up when Akiyama was out, due to injury. Alves was looking to bounce back following his submission loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX 2; but then dropped, himself, with Clements filling his slot.
Clements (11-4) is on a five-fight winning streak, including his Octagon debut at UFC 145. Riddle (6-3) has spent his entire professional MMA career in the UFC.
Urijah Faber and Renan Barão headline the UFC 149 fight card in a match to secure the interim bantamweight title.
