Thiago Alves vs Siyar Bahadurzada set for UFC 149 with Yoshihiro Akiyama injured

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/5/8/300832 ... njured-mma



The injury bug has bitten once again.

This time, it's UFC 149 that was delivered a blow as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) officials reported today (May, 8, 2012) that Yoshihiro Akiyama has suffered an undisclosed injury and will be forced to bow out of his Welterweight fight against the hard-hitting Thiago Alves, which was set to go down on July 21, 2012, at the Scotibank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

No worries though because Siyar Bahadurzada has agreed to step in for the injured Japanese star and take on "The Pitbull" in a fight that promises to be full of fireworks between the two stand-up specialists.

Siyar made his long-awaited UFC debut back on April 14, 2012 in impressive fashion, knocking out Paulo Thiago in the very first minute of the opening round at UFC on Fuel TV 2, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, extending his win streak to seven.

Barely breaking a sweat against Thiago, "The Killer" was a prime candidate to step in against the American Top Team (ATT) trained-fighter.

Alves is coming off of a heart-breaking loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX: "Alves vs. Kampmann" two months ago in a bout that he had all but wrapped up. With less than one minute remaining in the final round, Alves inexplicably shot in for a takedown against "The Hitman," and it wall she wrote from there as the Dane locked in air-tight guillotine that forced the Brazilian to tap.

Looking to get back on track, "The Pitbull" will have his hands full against Bahadurzada, who says he always aims for an early knockout.

UFC 149 will feature a Featherweight title fight between the UFC's 145-pound champion Jose Aldo taking on Erik Koch and a co-main event fight that will feature two heavy-handed Light Heavyweight's in Mauricio Rua and Thiago Silva.

Also on the card, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will make his return after suffering a broken arm at the hands of Frank Mir at UFC 140 last December to take on striker Cheick Kongo, while Michael Bisping looks to get back into the win column against Tim Boetsch.