An injury has knocked John Teixeira out of a key featherweight contest at Bellator 153 vs. former champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
Officials have signed Henry Corrales to replace Teixeira against Freire on April 22 from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. The bout will serve as the co-main event on Spike TV to welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov vs. Benson Henderson.
Freire (24-3) was bested for just the third time in his career this past November, falling via decision to Daniel Straus for the Bellator title. Prior to that, he had picked up wins over the likes of Daniel Weichel, Straus, Pat Curran and Justin Wilcox.
Corrales (12-2) entered Bellator with a perfect 10-0 record last year, but suffered defeats to current champion Straus via submission and Emmanuel Sanchez via split decision. Of his 12 career wins, 10 have been finishes.