Former Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine is having no luck as he tries to make his UFC debut.
Saffiedine has suffered a training injury and will be unable to compete in his upcoming fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC on Fox 8. The last ever Strikeforce 170-pound champion was unable to step in on short notice for UFC 158 when he was offered a fight against former interim champ Carlos Condit due to injury, and now has to bow out of his next fight as well.
UFC officials announced via Twitter on Tuesday that Saffiedine would be unable to fight at the UFC on Fox 8 card and would be replaced by heavy-handed striker Siyar Bahadurzada.
The new fight set for the upcoming show in Seattle now pits Bahadurzada against Lawler in a battle between two of the hardest punchers in the UFC welterweight division.
For Bahadurzada, the fight against Lawler will mean a shot at redemption after a tough performance in his last trip to the Octagon.
In that fight, the Afghan native took on suffocating grappler Dong Hyun-Kim at UFC on Fuel 8 in Japan and struggled to get out from under the Korean fighter for the better part of 15-full minutes.
It was a far cry for Bahadurzada, who made quite a splash with his UFC debut in April 2012 when he knocked out Brazilian welterweight Paulo Thiago with a vicious punch just 42-seconds into their bout.
The loss to Kim also ended Bahadurzada‘s seven fight win streak, but now he will do his best to get another one started when he faces Lawler on July 27 in Seattle.
It won’t be an easy test, however, because his opponent Robbie Lawler will also be looking for another big impact after a great return to the UFC earlier in the year.
Lawler first appeared in the UFC all the way back in 2002, but after numerous years outside the promotion he finally returned at UFC 157 while also dropping back down to welterweight for the first time in nearly a decade.
The results paid off as Lawler finished former title contender Josh Koscheck with strikes, and now he will look to do the same to Bahadurzada when they meet at UFC on Fox 8.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.
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