Injury forces champ Pat Curran out of Bellator 121 headliner

Bellator 121, the organization’s first “Summer Series” event of 2014, has lost its headliner.

Officials announced Wednesday that Pat Curran (20-5 MMA, 10-2 BMMA) has suffered a “severe right calf strain” and been forced out of a planned title fight and rematch with Patricio Freire (21-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA).

Curran will apparently fight “Pitbull” at a later date once healed.

Bellator 121 takes place June 6 at Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

“I’ve been training incredibly hard for this fight by pushing myself to my absolute limits in training,” Curran stated. “Unfortunately during some conditioning drills, I suffered a bad calf strain that has halted my training for one of the biggest fights of my career.

“I have my sights set on getting back into the cage as soon as possible with July in mind, but I want to be 100 percent healthy heading into that cage to smash ‘Pitbull.’”

Curran won the duo’s first meeting via split decision at Bellator 85 in early 2013. Curran is currently ranked No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings while Freire is No. 10.

Curran most recently fought at Bellator 112, where he got an immediate Bellator rematch (and a third overall meeting) after losing his belt to Daniel Straus at Bellator 106. Curran scored a come-from-behind fifth-round submission victory in the duo’s most recent bout, which marked the 26-year-old’s seventh win in eight fights.

Freire, meanwhile, earned his title shot with after winning the Season 9 featherweight tournament with a decision win over Fabricio Guerreiro and knockout victories over Diego Nunes and Justin Wilcox. The 26-year-old Brazilian, who was one of the more vocal critics of the Straus vs. Curran 3 booking, is now 4-0 with three knockouts since his loss to Curran in their first meeting.

For more on Bellator 121, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Pat Curran)