A late shoulder injury to bantamweight Johnny Eduardo (25-9) has temporarily derailed a scheduled November 19th undercard bout against Michael McDonald (13-1) at UFC 139. Eduardo announced the news to Brazilian news outlet Tatame.
"I was training hard, super confident, but I hurt my left shoulder defending a takedown. Last week an felt too much pain and Dede (Andre Pederneiras) sent me to the doctor, who asked for a MRI," Eduardo explained. "It's 20 sessions before heading back to the doctor and reevaluate if I'm going to need more sessions on my shoulder or if I'll be able to return to training. Unfortunately, I'm out of the fight."
UFC officials are currently searching for a replacement opponent for McDonald, a 20-year-old kickboxer already with a 2-0 record inside the Octagon. MMA Nation will continue to update the matchup as it develops.
UFC 139 takes place at the HP Pavilion Center in San Jose, California. A five-round non-title light heavyweight fight between Pride FC veterans Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson headlines the event.
UFC 139 fight card:
Main card:
Light Heavyweight: Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson
Middleweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le
Bantamweight: Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story
Light Heavyweight: Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Preliminary card:
Light Heavyweight: Ryan Bader vs. Jason Brilz
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Chris Weidman
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Bantamweight: Miguel Torres vs. Nick Pace
Welterweight: Matt Brown vs. Seth Baczynski
Lightweight: Shamar Bailey vs. Danny Castillo
Bantamweight: Michael McDonald vs. TBA