Injuries force major changes to Bellator 185’s main card

The injury bug has bitten again, this time for Bellator. A few days before Bellator 185 takes place, injuries have resulted in a huge change for the main card.

Brennan Ward (14-6) is off the event due to an undisclosed injury. With that news, Ward is also taking his opponent, David Rickels (18-4), off the card with him. To make matters worse, the bout between Javier Torres and Neiman Gracie has been altered due to Torres (10-3) also suffering from an undisclosed injury. Zak Bucia (18-8) will replace Torres and face Gracie (6-0). MMAJunkie was the first to report the news.

In order to please fans with a full event, a new match has been added to the main card. Ryan Quinn (13-7-1) and Marcus Surin (4-0) will get a chance to shine in Connecticut.

That is a lot to take in. It’s been a tough year for MMA, as several fighters have missed events due to injuries or weight-cutting issues. Bellator 185 has felt the brunt of the pain. The company recently announced that ‘King Mo” would miss the event due to injury. When they attempted to get another opponent for Liam McGeary, he went down with an injury as well.

Bellator takes place this Friday (October 20th) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The main event features Gegard Mousasi making his Bellator debut against former Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko. Heather Hardy is also on the card, looking for her second career MMA victory against Kristina Williams.

The Bellator 185 main card airs live on Spike with the prelims available on Spike.com.