Awad replaces injured Freire, Woodard-Rickles likely new Bellator 87 headliner
Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (10-4 MMA, 3-3 BFC) has suffered an undisclosed injury, and Guillaume DeLorenzi (10-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) now fights preliminary-card fighter Saad Awad (12-4 MMA, 0-1 BFC) in a Season 8 lightweight-tournament bout.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the change with Bellator officials following an initial report from TheMMAReport.com.
MMAjunkie.com was told a would-be co-headliner between Lloyd Woodard (12-2 MMA, 2-2 BFC) vs. David Rickels (11-1 MMA, 5-1 BFC) is now expected to take the main-event slot. Awad vs. DeLorenzi will remain on the main card, which exclusively features bouts from the opening round of the Season 8 lightweight tourney.
Bellator 87 takes place at Soaring Eagle Casino Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
Awaad’s original opponent, Jason Fischer (5-1 MMA, 2-1 BFC), now will fight replacement Sevak Magakian (12-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC), a promotional newcomer who’s perhaps best known as a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 12.” It’s the featured preliminary-card bout.
The full Bellator 87 card now includes:
MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 10 p.m. ET)
- David Rickels vs. Lloyd Woodard – lightweight-tourney opening round
- Saad Awad vs. Guillaume DeLorenzi – lightweight-tourney opening round
- Will Brooks vs. Ricardo Tirloni – lightweight-tourney opening round
- Thiago Michel vs. Alexander Sarnavskiy – lightweight-tourney opening round
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 8 p.m. ET)
- Jason Fischer vs. Sevak Magakian
- Ben Lagman vs. Sam Quito
- James Reese vs. David Shepherd
- Justin Houghton vs. Cody Stamann
- Karl Etherington vs. Jason Fish
- Amir Khillah vs. John Schulz
- Nick Kirk vs. Tony Zelinski
For more on Bellator 87, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Patricky Freire)
Article source: http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/01/awad-replaces-injured-freire-woodard-rickles-likely-new-bellator-87-headliner