An undisclosed injury has forced Linton Vassell to pull out of his Bellator 158 bout later this month against Francis Carmont and stepping up on two weeks notice to face Carmont will be Lukasz Klinger.
The fight change was announced by Bellator on Tuesday and the promotion also announced that James Mulheron will now meet Neil Grove on the preliminary card.
Bellator 158 will come from the O2 Arena in London, England on July 16 and will be headlined by a welterweight bout as former Bellator champion Douglas Lima returns to the Bellator cage for the first time since losing the title last year as he will face Paul Daley.
Klinger (7-2) is coming off a knockout lost in April against Atanas Djambazov and he has dropped two of his last three fights after starting 6-0. All of his victories have come by stoppage and four of those wins have come by TKO/KO. Carmont (24-11) will also enter this fight following a defeat as he lost to Phil Davis in the one-night, lightweight tournament final at Bellator 142. He is 2-1 in Bellator and both of his wins in the promotion have come by decision.
The current Bellator 158: London fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/PT)
Douglas Lima (26-6) vs. Paul Daley (38-13-2)
Matt Mitrione (10-5) vs. Oli Thompson (17-8)
Michael Page (10-0) vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (21-17)
Francis Carmont (24-11) vs. Lukasz Klinger (7-2)
James Gallagher (3-0) vs. Mike Cutting (6-5)
Preliminary Card:
James Mulheron (8-1) vs. Neil Grove (12-7)
Michael Shipman (8-1) vs. Lee Chadwick (21-12-1)
Pietro Menga (12-0) vs. Spencer Hewitt (12-10)
Luiz Tosta (9-2) vs. Dean Garnett (7-0)
Jason Radcliffe (8-2) vs. Jack Mason (29-15)
Chase Morton (6-2) vs. Nathaniel Wood (8-3)
Alex Reid (11-9-1) vs. Manuel Garcia (27-19)
C.J. Meeks (4-1) vs. Danny Mitchell (17-7-1)