By FCF Staff

Bellator has been forced to juggle the line-up for its next welterweight tournament, approximately one week before it’s set to begin on March 14th.

The promotion has announced that Joe Riggs, “War Machine” and Mark Scanlon will no longer compete in the tourney as originally scheduled. As a result, a welterweight bout between Nate Coy and Paul Bradley has been added to the tournament, and Cristiano Souza will face Sam Oropeza.

“We’ve been riding a great wave of not losing any fights or fighters from our Tournaments. 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,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said in the official announcement.

“It creates an opportunity for fighters to showcase their skills on a huge platform, and that’s a positive. When you look at a guy like Brennan Ward, he was a fighter that was featured primarily on our preliminary shows, and when injury struck our Middleweight Tournament last year, Brennan stepped up as a last minute replacement and ran through an incredibly tough tournament, and will be fighting for our title against one of the best in the world in Alexander Shlemenko. Injuries can provide those opportunities, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the next Brennan Ward steps up through this new group from The Horseshoe in Hammond, Indiana.”

Bellator has disclosed that Riggs and War Machine have withdrawn due to “documented medical conditions”, however, no reason for Scanlon’s withdrawal was provided.

Here is the updated line-up for Bellator 112, which will be hosted by the Venue at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.

MAIN CARD

Bellator Featherweight World Title Fight: Daniel Straus (22-4) vs. Pat Curran (19-5)

Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Andrey Koreshkov (14-1) vs. Nah’ Shon Burrell (11-3)

Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Sam Oropeza (10-2) vs. Cristiano Souza (7-0)

Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Jesse Juarez (21-8) vs. Adam McDonough (9-0)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Nathan Coy (13-4) vs. Paul Bradley (21-5)

Welterweight Feature Fight: A.J. Matthews (6-2) vs. Belal Muhammad (4-0)

Bantamweight Feature Fight: Diego Marlon (24-8) vs. Lloyd Carter (5-5)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Darrion Caldwell (3-0) vs. Lance Surma (2-0)

Lightweight Feature Fight: Derek Loffer  (6-2) vs. Bobby Reardanz (8-12)

Light-Heavyweight Feature Fight: Jason Guida (19-27) vs. Anthony Gomez (7-2)

Heavyweight Feature Fight: Daniel James (debut) vs. Erick Correa (2-0)