UFC
Yoshihiro Akiyama injured, Thiago Alves now gets Siyar Bahadurzada as UFC 149 opponent
May 8, 2012 - 8:15:00 PM Yoshihiro Akiyama injured, Thiago Alves now gets Siyar Bahadurzada as UFC 149 opponent

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

After losing a co-main event bout for UFC 148 this July with news of Dominick Cruz's injury on Monday, the UFC has now lost a main card fight for another July event, UFC 149.

A welterweight bout between Thiago Alves and Yoshihiro Akiyama is off with Akiyama suffering an injury, though Alves will remain on the card with a very stiff test as a replacement. The UFC's Brazilian twitter account revealed on Tuesday that Siyar Bahadurzada will step in to face Alves on the July 21 event in Calgary.

Bahadurzada made his UFC debut last month at UFC on Fuel 2 in Sweden. The Afghani fighter knocked out Paulo Thiago in just 42 seconds to notch his seventh straight win.

Alves hopes to rebound from a last minute loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX 2 in Australia in March. After winning two out of three fights following a three-fight losing streak, Alves appeared to be well ahead against Kampmann down the stretch, but during a late takedown attempt he got caught in a guillotine choke and was forced to tap out with just 48 seconds left in the fight.

UFC 149 takes place from the Scotiabank Saddledome on July 21, headlined by the Featherweight Championship bout between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch.

Penick's Analysis: This is a great replacement fight. Akiyama was getting a chance despite a four fight losing streak, and though Alves has lost four of six he's still a very tough opponent in the welterweight division. Bahadurzada made a big impression in his debut win over Paulo Thiago, and a follow up against Alves would be a fantastic entrance into the UFC's welterweight division. I like this fight a lot.