Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard has had to switch from one Brazilian fighter to another for Thursday’s Bellator 18 in Monroe, La. Former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho has had to withdraw and will be replaced by fellow Brazilian Jay Silva.

The news was first reported by Sports Illustrated’s Josh Gross.

Filho told Gracia Magazine, ““It seems the event took too long in sending out the letter I needed to present at the consulate and I’m not sure but it could be there was some kind of failure on the part of my managers. So, I won’t get my visa in time.”

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney declined to explain to AOL’s Ariel Helwani the circumstances surrounding Filho’s absence.

Silva is a 5-3 fighter who is coming off of back-to-back losses in the UFC. He was scheduled to fight on an earlier bout on the card, but accepted the move up to the main event, non-title affair with Lombard.

Source: http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/tem ... &zoneid=13

Paulo Filho always misses fights. Why does he even bother fighting outside of Brazil?

Yeah who knows man, this is what he says...


Paulo Filho blames Bellator for visa issues:

"Honestly, I don’t know. I think maybe people knew I was in a good shape, strong, so they got scared… In fact, I’ve been informed it was a mistake of the event, which didn’t gave me the letter so I could take it to the council. Things were left to be solved at the last minute, unfortunately I won’t fight", said Filho.

"My biggest concern is that people start to think that my absences are because of other things better than from what it actually is… I was training hard, working on my boxing with Distak, conditioning, running on the beach, doing Jiu-Jitsu… It was everything going pretty good, but there’s always something to get in the way", regrets the fighter.

"My fight schedule is full, three fights within 20 days on July. The first is on the 3rd, the second on the 10th and against a guy who has fought with (José) Pelé, and the third I think is between Marvin Eastman or Denis Kang, on 18th", reveals the black belt. "There is enough time left, but I believe that all the bureaucracy is for the best… To get into America is pretty hard".

Source: http://www.tatame.com/2010/05/11/Filho- ... ellator-18

"To get into America is pretty hard."

Really?! Well what's your excuse for having YOUR MOM call DREAM to let them know you weren't going to be fighting...did Filho at least call Bellator himself or did he have his mommie call for him. Apparently Japan is very hard to get into as well....maybe his parents grounded him this week for eating too much candy.

He's a sideshow as far as I'm concerned. Lump him in there with Dennis Rodman, Terrell Owens, and Sarah Palin.

Its not that hard to get into america (USA). If you want something you have to work for it. To say that "I think maybe people knew I was in a good shape, strong, so they got scared" sounds like hes 13 years old and an idiot. Yeah man, Hector Lombard is really scared, thats why he won the f**cking belt last year you dork! Because he so scared of fighting. Nonsense.

If he was missing a letter he could have contacted them and had it sent express or even faxed it to him. As I said, if you want something you have to work for it. Its typically spoiled brat idiot to sit around and wait for others to do stuff and when things dont fall in place you can just blame them.

I must say though that i know little of Filos personal life, so no disrespect ment or so, just that so far what I have learned is that he talkes a lot of bs.