An undisclosed injury has forced Wand Fight Team product Michael Costa (10-5-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) to withdraw from a bout with Lyman Good (11-2 MMA, 4-2 BFC) at Saturday's Bellator 59.
Due to the last-minute nature of the withdrawal, Bellator officials have elected to scratch the fight altogether. Promoted to main card is a lightweight contest between Marcin Held (11-2 MMA, 0-1 BFC) and "The Ultimate Fighter 8" finalist Phillipe Nover (5-3-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), who makes his Bellator debut.
Bellator 59 takes place at Caesar's Atlantic City in Atlantic City, N.J. Main-card action airs live on MTV2 while preliminary bouts stream on Spike.com.
With Held vs. Nover headed to the main card, a bout between middleweight veteran Karl Amoussou (12-4-2 MMA, 0-1 BFC) and Jesus Martinez (6-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) has been moved to the top of the preliminary card. Amoussou seeks his first win for the promotion after dropping a split decision to Sam Alvey at May's Bellator 45 event. Martinez, meanwhile, has won six of his first seven professional fights and now makes his Bellator debut.
Sherdog.com first reported the changes, and MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed them with sources close to the promotion.
Held returns to the promotion after being bounced from the season-four tournament quarterfinals by current lightweight champ Michael Chandler in shocking submission fashion. Held did fight earlier this month, earning a submission win over Kaleo Kwan under the Australian Fighting Championship banner.
Nover looks to earn his second win since being released from the UFC. "The Ultimate Fighter 8" finalist was bounced after losses to Robert Emerson, Kyle Bradley and Efrain Escudero but notched an August win over Jake Murphy at Hoosier Fight Club 8.
Source: Injury to Costa shuffles Bellator 59; Held vs. Nover promoted to main card