UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 14, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
UFC 142 will feature preliminary fights live on Sportsnet. Siyar Bahadurzada was scheduled to face Erick Silva, but pulled out of the bout. Veteran fighter Carlo Prater has stepped in as a replacement for Bahadurzada. Rob Broughton was scheduled to face Ednaldo Oliveira, but pulled out of the bout.Recently resigned heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga will replace Broughton in the bout. Paulo Thiago was scheduled to face Mike Pyle, but pulled out of the bout due to an injury.Recently resigned welterweight Ricardo Funch will replace Thiago in the bout. Stanislav Nedkov was scheduled to take on Fabio Maldonado at this event, but visa problems forced Nedkov to withdraw from the bout. Newcomer Caio Magalhaes stepped in as a replacement for Nedkov in late December. However, Maldonado was injured less than a week before his fight with Magalhaes and the bout was scratched from the card.
Next month's UFC 142 event has lost four fighters, as Paulo Thiago, Stanislav Nedkov, Rob Broughton, and Siyar Bahadurzada have all been forced to withdraw from the January 14 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Thiago withdrew due to an elbow injury that was first reported by Tatame, while the UFC confirmed Nedkov, Broughton, and Bahadurzada were off the card.Bahadurzada was slated to make his Octagon debut against Erik Silva on UFC 142's pay-per-view main card, while Thiago, Nedkov, and Broughton were scheduled to face Mike Pyle, Fabio Maldonado, and Edinaldo Oliveira respectively on the UFC 142 prelims on FX.The UFC is currently seeking replacements for the matchups.For complete coverage of UFC 142 stay tuned to uswatchtv-v2.blogspot.com
Ricardo Funch will get a second chance in the Octagon as he steps up on short notice to face Mike Pyle at UFC 142 in Brazil.UFC officials announced the booking on Saturday.Funch, a training partner of Gabriel Gonzaga, went 0-2 in his previous UFC stint dropping fights to both Johny Hendricks and Claude Patrick.The Team Link fighter took some time off after the loss to Patrick in 2010, but returned to action just a couple of weeks ago and picked up a win over Ryan Quinn.Now he'll come back to the UFC with an opportunity to face Xtreme Couture fighter and veteran Mike Pyle.The bout between Pyle and Funch will be part of the UFC 142 prelim special on FX airing on Jan 14.The recently injury-plagued UFC 142 card in Rio got its latest change Sunday.Unbeaten Brazilian Caio Magalhaes will make his UFC debut in his home country against Fabio Maldonado in a light heavyweight bout. The UFC announced the new bout on its Brazilian Twitter feed.Magalhaes (5-0) steps in for Stanislov Ned kov, who earlier this month was taken off the card with an injury. Magalhaes won a split decision against Ismael de Jesus earlier this month at a Shooto Brazil event, making him 2-0 in 2011. All five of the 24-year-old's pro fights have been in his native Brazil.Maldonado (18-4, 1-1 UFC), a student of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in Brazil, returns for the first time since a Fight of the Night loss to Kyle Kingsbury at the TUF 13 Finale in June. Maldonado was booked for a fight against Aaron Rosa on October's UFC on Versus 6 card, but had to pull out with an injury. His loss to Kingsbury was his first since November 2007, snapping an 11-fight winning streak.UFC 142 will be the promotion's second trip to Rio de Janeiro since August, when it returned to Brazil for the first time in nearly 13 years. Headlining the pay-per-view card is a featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and unbeaten Team Alpha Male product Chad Mendes. In the co-main e vent, Anthony Johnson makes his middleweight debut against Vitor Belfort. Each of the 11 fights so far booked for the card features a Brazilian fighter.
