Injury knocks champ Rafael Carvalho from Bellator 168 main event vs. Melvin Manhoef

The stretch of Bellator headliners falling through will continue through the organization’s return to Italy next week.

Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho (13-1 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) is injured and out of the Bellator 168 main event with Melvin Manhoef (30-13-1 MMA, 2-2 BMMA), scheduled for Dec. 10 at Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy. The card airs on Spike.

Taking the place of the main event slot with be a middleweight bout between Italy’s Alessio Sakara (18-11 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and Joey Beltran (17-13 MMA, 2-4 BMMA), who were originally slated to co-headline the card.

Details regarding Carvalho’s injury have yet to be confirmed, but it postpones his rematch with Manhoef following their original meeting at Bellator 155 in May, which Carvalho won by controversial split decision.

The MMA portion of the Bellator 168 card now includes:

• Joey Beltran vs. Alessio Sakara
• Philipe Lins vs. Kleber Raimundo Silva
• Claudio Annicchiarico vs. John Salter
• Valeriu Mircea vs. Goiti Yamauchi

For more on Bellator 168, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.