A knee injury has forced Tom DeBlass to pull out of his Bellator 123 bout against Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Marcus Sursa is expected to now face Lawal on the September 5th card.
DeBlass confirmed the injury on Twitter yesterday and the new fight has not been officially announced by Bellator at this time.
Bellator 123 will come from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on September 5th and will be headlined a title rematch as Pat Curran defends the featherweight title against Patrico Pitbull.
DeBlass explained his injury on Twitter, which he stated that he dislocated his patellar after competing in a jiu-jitsu competition. No surgery will be required for him and he stated that he is hoping to return later this fall.
“Guys it’s with regret that I cannot fight Mo Sept 5th,” DeBlass tweeted. “A few days after my ADCC match I dislocated my patellar. My knee cap shifted and dislocated. I had to take off that week of training. I was feeling good again only to dislocate my knee two my times. For medial patellar dislocation there is no surgery, just rehab. Problem is I had all of my meniscus removed years ago.”
“Rolling Jiu-Jitsu I can do carefully, but right now with the pivoting of throwing punches and hard scrambles it’s bound to dislocate again. I’ve fought through broken noses, a fractured foot, a fractured hand, a badly injured siatic nerve, but when I don’t have knee stability it’s a different story. I spoke to Mo and he was nothing but a gentleman. I plan to be back competing this fall. Goodluck to Mo and we may meet in the future.”
Sursa (13-8) has won back to back fights and five of his last seven. His last two wins have come by submission in the third round and his most recent win came in June against Andrew Kapel at Beatdown at 4 Beards 11. This will mark his second fight in Bellator as his previous appearance came in 2010 as he was defeated by Eddie Sanchez at Bellator 20.
The current Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull II fight card lineup is below.
Main Card: (Spike TV – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Pat Curran (20-5) vs. Patricio Pitbull (21-2)
Muhammed Lawal (12-4, 1NC) vs. Marcus Sursa (13-8)
Bobby Lashley (10-2) vs. Josh Burns (8-7)
Cheick Kongo (21-9-2) vs. Lavar Johnson (18-9)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com – 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT)
Marvin Maldonado (1-1) vs. Rico Disciullo (2-0)
Steve Garcia (4-0) vs. Kin Moy (4-0)
Mike Wessel (14-7) v s. Josh Diekmann (14-5)
Tamdan McCrory (11-3) vs. Brennan Ward (9-2)
Perry Filkins (8-1) vs. Dan Cramer (10-4)
Mike Mucitelli (6-1) vs. Mark Griffin (3-3-1)
Phillipe Martins (0-1) vs. Pete Rogers Jr. (1-1)
Brandon Fleming (3-2) vs. Blair Tugman (5-5)
Lucas Cruz (7-2) vs. Andrew Calandrelli (6-4)
Scott Cleve (14-4) vs. Matt Bessette (13-5)