Junior Assucao out of ‘XFC 27: Frozen Fury’ headliner vs. Daniel Swain

Xtreme Fighting Championship’s Michigan debut has lost its headliner.

Former UFC featherweight Junior Assuncao (14-5) has been forced to withdraw from his main event against Daniel Swain (10-2) at “XFC 27: Frozen Fury” due to health reasons. XFC President John Prisco recently announced the news.

XFC 27 takes place Dec. 13 at L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, Mich. The main card will be broadcast on AXS TV.

Prisco released a statement from Assuncao on his official Facebook page:

“Due to health problem I won’t be able to compete next month at XFC 27. I would prefer not to go in to further details, but I do owe an apology to XFC, John Prisco, my opponent Daniel Swain and all the Fans. This was a very important fight, I’m In great shape but something out of my control came up. I will take the Proper time to Heal and promise to come back stronger next year.”

Prisco did not indicate whether a new opponent would be sought to face Swain in the main event, or if the current co-feature would move up to headline the show. The co-main event is the final of XFC’s featherweight tournament, featuring Deivison Ribeiro (24-9) vs. Farkhad Sharipov (14-5).

Prisco said on Facebook he hopes to book Assuncao vs. Swain in the future.

“We love Junior Assuncao and while we are disappointed he will not be fighting Daniel Swain next month we are happy Junior is doing what he needs to do to be healthy and fight in the Cage again in the future. When these things happen your heart breaks for the fighter and his opponent, we will make this fight happen in the future, we owe it to both fighters and the fans.”

Assuncao returned to action in September for Premium Fight Championship in Brazil, where he stopped Guilherme Faria de Souza with a fourth-round kimura. That was his first fight since being released from the UFC in his second stint with the company, which produced a 1-1 record after going 1-2 with the promotion his first time around. Prior to his loss to Ross Pearson in December 2011, which led to his UFC release, Assucao had a seven-fight winning streak.

The American Kickboxing Academy-trained Swain has won four in a row, including a 3-0 mark in 2013 with back-to-back knockout wins. But the Washington native will be taking on his most veteran competition yet. His resume includes a submission win over UFC fighter Sam Sicilia in 2011.

Ribeiro has won back-to-back fights for XFC. This past month, he stopped Jason Hicks at XFC 26 to earn his place in the featherweight title tournament final. In June, he beat Shah Bobonis at XFC 24 to snap a two-fight skid. He has won six of his past eight fights.

Sharipov in September stopped Stephen Bass in the second round to punch his ticket to the tourney final. That win got him back on track after back-to-back losses for Bellator in 2011. Now he’ll be going after XFC’s first featherweight title since 2010.

The XFC 27 card includes:

MAIN CARD (AXS TV, 9 p.m. ET)

• Daniel Swain vs. TBA
• Deivison Ribeiro vs. Farkhad Sharipov – featherweight tournament final
• Joe Elmore vs. Eric Reynolds
• Angela Hill vs. Stephanie Skinner
• Dave Courchaine vs. Alex Trevino
• Dominique Steele vs. Ryan Thomas

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Shamir Garcia vs. Ray Lopez
• Marcus Reynolds vs. Dequan Townsend
• Andy Carter vs. Kenneth Green
• Drew Morais vs. David Rohn
• Roy Saldana vs. Andres Torres
• Jacob Butler vs. Joel Vincent

For more on XFC 27, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Junior Assuncao)