Brazilian bantamweight Johnny Eduardo (25-9) has suffered a shoulder injury according to UFC officials, who are now on the search for a new opponent for Michael ‘Mayday’ McDonald (13-1) as part of UFC 131.
Tatame.com was first to announce the injury to Eduardo on Friday.
“I was training hard, super confident, but I hurt my left shoulder defending a takedown. Last week an felt too much pain and Dede (Andre Pederneiras) sent me to the doctor, who asked for a MRI”, Johnny explains.
“It’s 20 sessions before heading back to the doctor and reevaluate if I’m going to need more sessions on my shoulder or if I’ll be able to return to training. Unfortunately, I’m out of the fight. Actually, I don’t know if they’re going to postpone the bout of just find a replacement. It’s better wait and fight with no injures”.
Eduardo and McDonald had been scheduled to meet on the preliminary card of UFC 139: Shogun vs. Hendo, which is scheduled for Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Eduardo debuted with the top promotion in August, losing to Raphael Assuncao at UFC 134. That defeat ended an eleven fight win streak which saw the Brazilian stop nine of those opponents.
McDonald now waits for a new opponent with two weeks to go before the event. ‘Mayday’ won both of his UFC appearances and is riding a six-fight win streak. His last Octagon match took place in May where he earned a split decision over Chris Cariaso at UFC 130.