Former WEC featherweight contender Manny ‘The Pitbull’ Gamburyan (11-6) has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming UFC 135 bout with Diego Nunes (16-2) due to a shoulder injury.
Gamburyan posted the message via Twitter (@MannyGamburyan) on Monday afternoon, noting that the injury may be a serious one.
– I’m of from the UFC 135 card I hurt my shoulder and MRI is not looking good I just wanna say sorry to I’ll my friends and fans I’ll bf back!
He and Nunes had been scheduled to meet at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage, which is scheduled for September 24 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. No official word has come down from the promotion at this time, it’s likely they will look to find a new opponent for Nunes with just over a month to go.
Gamburyan has dropped his last two fights, but one of those was a WEC featherweight title loss. ‘The Pitbull’ earned a shot at the 145 lb belt after three straight wins in the WEC. He faced champ Jose Aldo in September of last year at WEC 51 and wound up getting knocked out in the second round by his Brazilian opponent.
Gamburyan’s next fight was to have been at UFC 128 against Raphael Assuncao but a back injury forced him off the card. He finally made his return to the Octagon, after going 2-3 as a lightweight, in June at the UFC on Versus 4 event, where he lost a majority decision to Tyson Griffin.