Pitbull Freire pulled from Bellator 73; Light Heavyweight bout in Main Event

Last week, we reported that Bellator Featherweight champion Pat Curran (17-4 MMA, 7-1 BFC) was forced to withdraw from this Friday’s card due to a broken orbital bone. Today Bellator announced that his opponent, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (17-1 MMA, 5-1 BFC), also been pulled from the Bellator 73 card as well. The main card will now be headlined by two undefeated Light Heavyweights: Matt Van Buren (5-0 MMA, 2-0 BFC) and Mike Mucitelli (2-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC).

Van Buren made his professional MMA debut two years ago and has accumulated five straight wins. He signed with Bellator in 2011, and boasts a TKO win over Nick Nichols and a submission victory over Shawn Levesque.

Mucitelli went pro in 2010 and has earned back-to-back wins. Most recently, he submitted Eddie Hardison in July at a Matrix Fights event. This will be his first fight with Bellator.

Bellator 73 takes place at Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino in Mississippi. The event’s main card airs on MTV2 (and in high-definition on EPIX) following preliminary bouts on Spike.com.

A new date has not been set for the Curran vs. Freire title fight. Scheduling will be dependent on Curran’s recovery, but it could take place later this year in Bellator‘s seventh season.

The full Bellator 73 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (MTV2)
•Marcos Galvao vs. Luis Nogueira (season-six bantamweight tournament final)
•Attila Vegh vs. Travis Wiuff (“Summer Series” light-heavyweight-tourney final)
•Ryan Martinez vs. Mike Wessel
•Mike Mucitelli vs. Matt Van Buren

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)
•Cosmo Alexander vs. Harry Johnson
•Brian Albin vs. Jacob Noe
•Amaechi Oselukwue vs. Kelvin Tiller
•Andy Uhrich vs. Joe Williams
•Jay Black vs. Brian Hall
•Chris Coggins vs. Zach Underwood