The mixed martial arts injury bug knows no limits as Bellator MMA announced Friday afternoon a scheduled season ten lightweight tournament final between Patricky Freire and Marcin Held, originally scheduled for Bellator 120, is off the card as the Brazilian suffered an injury in training.
Freire vs. Held was originally set to take place on the Spike TV preliminary portion of the card. Filling in for the now delayed bout is a featherweight contest between Shahbulat Shamhalev and Fabricio Guerreiro, a bout that was originally set to take place at Bellator 119, but was delayed due to Shamhalaev’s passport issues. The new contest will also take place on the Spike TV preliminary card.
“It’s unfortunate to lose a fight like Patricky vs. Held on May 17th, but we were able to reschedule the Shahbulat-Fabricio fight which will be a great fight,” said Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Patricky will take some time to heal and then we’ll look to re-schedule his Tournament Championship fight with Marcin, who is one of the top young rising stars in our sport.”
Freire earned a tournament final spot by besting David Rickels and Derek Campos at Bellator 113 and 117, respectively. Held achieved the same spot by getting past Rodrigo Cavalheiro and Derek Anderson, also at Bellator 113 and 117 respectively. Freire is a season four lightweight tournament finalist while Held won the season seven tournament for Bellator MMA.
Shamhalaev, 31, last competed at Bellator 95 where he lost to Pat Curran for the Bellator featherweight championship by submission. He is 12-2-1 in MMA and also the season seven featherweight tournament winner.
Guerreiro, 23, most recently fought at Bellator 103 where he lost to Patricio Freire by unanimous decision. He is 19-3 with 1 no-contest in professional MMA.