Pat Curran injured, out of Bellator 121 title fight with ‘Pitbull’ Freire

Another Bellator champion is sidelined with an injury.

Days after Eddie Alvarez was forced to pull out of a lightweight title fight against Michael Chandler, featherweight champion Pat Curran has suffered a calf strain during training and won’t be able to put his title on the line against two-time tournament winner Patricio Freire on June 6 in Thackerville, Okla.

“I’ve been training incredibly hard for this fight by pushing myself to my absolute limits in training,” Curran stated in a release. “Unfortunately during some conditioning drills, I suffered a bad calf strain that has halted my training for one of the biggest fights of my career.”

Bellator has yet to announce a new date for Curran vs. Freire 2, but the 145-pound champion hopes to be back in action in July.

“I have my sights set on getting back into the cage as soon as possible with July in mind,” he said, “but I want to be 100 percent healthy heading into that cage to smash Pitbull.”

Freire, who won his second Bellator tournament in November, challenged Curran for the featherweight championship in January of 2013, when he suffered a close split decision loss. The Brazilian has won four straight, with three knockouts, to earn another shot at the gold.

Bellator expects to announce the complete lineup for Bellator 121 “soon.”

Another Bellator champion is sidelined with an injury.

Days after Eddie Alvarez was forced to pull out of a lightweight title fight against Michael Chandler, featherweight champion Pat Curran has suffered a calf strain during training and won’t be able to put his title on the line against two-time tournament winner Patricio Freire on June 6 in Thackerville, Okla.

“I’ve been training incredibly hard for this fight by pushing myself to my absolute limits in training,” Curran stated in a release. “Unfortunately during some conditioning drills, I suffered a bad calf strain that has halted my training for one of the biggest fights of my career.”

Bellator has yet to announce a new date for Curran vs. Freire 2, but the 145-pound champion hopes to be back in action in July.

“I have my sights set on getting back into the cage as soon as possible with July in mind,” he said, “but I want to be 100 percent healthy heading into that cage to smash Pitbull.”

Freire, who won his second Bellator tournament in November, challenged Curran for the featherweight championship in January of 2013, when he suffered a close split decision loss. The Brazilian has won four straight, with three knockouts, to earn another shot at the gold.

Bellator expects to announce the complete lineup for Bellator 121 “soon.”