A back injury has apparently forced BAMMA middleweight champ Tom ‘Kong’ Watson (14-4) to withdraw from his upcoming title defense against Frank ‘Twinkle Toes’ Trigg (21-8) in September.
MMAjunkie.com reported the news on Tuesday afternoon with sources close to the organization.
Stepping in for the injured Watson will be former Bellator welterweight tournament participant ‘Judo’ Jim Wallhead (21-6), who will meet Trigg in a non-title bout at the English event.
BAMMA 7 is scheduled to take place on September 10 at the NIA Arena in Brimingham, England. The event should air live via web pay-per-view through the promotions website. The event also features a lightweight title bout between defending champion Rob Sinclair vs. Brazilian fighter Leonardo Santos.
Wallhead last saw action in March taking part in Bellator’s Season Four Welterweight tournament. ‘Judo’ faced former Bellator champ Rick Hawn at Bellator 35 in a quarterfinal match, and would end up losing to Hawn via unanimous decision. That loss ended an eight fight win streak that Wallhead had carried into that fight, which included a decision win at Bellator 32 last October.
Trigg is riding a two-fight win streak, having earned a TKO (doctor stoppage) win over John Philips at BAMMA 6 last May in London. The previous win came at an Israel FC: Genesis event in November, which also ended via TKO. Previous to that, ‘Twinkle Toes’ made two appearances with the UFC, losing both matches to Matt Serra at UFC 109, and to Josh Koscheck at UFC 103, before being dismissed for the second time in his career.