War Machine and Riggs out, three in for welterweight tourney at Friday's Bellator 112
Three fighters have withdrawn from the Season 10 welterweight tournament that kicks off at Friday’s Bellator 112 event, but replacements have been named.
War Machine (14-5 MMA, 2-1 BMMA), Joe Riggs (40-14 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) and Mark Scanlon (9-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) have all withdrawn from the eight-man field, and Paul Bradley (21-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), Nathan Coy (13-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and Cristiano Souza (7-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) have stepped in as replacements.
Bellator 112 takes place at Indiana’s Horseshoe Hammond Casino. The main card, including a headlining title fight between featherweight champion Daniel Straus and ex-titleholder Pat Curran, airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
War Machine and Riggs withdrew with documented medical conditions, according to Bellator. Officials didn’t give a reason for Scanlon’s removal from the card.
Due to the personnel changes, Bellator officials have also set new pairings for the welterweight tourney’s opening round, which kicks off Friday. They include Andrey Koreshkov (14-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) vs. Nah-Shon Burrell (11-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), Souza vs. Sam Oropeza (10-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA), Jesse Juarez (21-8 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) vs. Adam McDonough (9-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), and Bradley vs. Coy.
“We’ve been riding a great wave of not losing any fights or fighters from our tournaments,†Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. “And, while losing any fighter from a tournament is never something we’re happy to see happen, it’s part of the sport, and it’s a huge credit to our talent team to have developed the depth in the division to replace fighters with talent like Paul Bradley, Nathan Coy and Cristiano Souza.â€
The latest Bellator 112 card now includes:
MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)
Champ Daniel Straus vs. Pat Curran – for featherweight title
Nah-Shon Burrell vs. Andrey Koreshkov – welterweight tournament opening round
Cristiano Souza vs. Sam Oropeza – welterweight tournament opening round
Jesse Juarez vs. Adam McDonough – welterweight tournament opening round
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)
Paul Bradley vs. Nathan Coy – welterweight tournament opening round
A.J. Matthews vs. Belal Muhammad
Lloyd Carter vs. Diego Marlon
Darrion Caldwell vs. Lance Surma
Derek Loffer vs. Bobby Reardanz
Jason Guida vs. Anthony Gomez
Erick Correa vs. Daniel James
