Sinclair out at Bellator 101, Tirloni meets Clementi in lightweight tourney

Rob Sinclair‘s debut for Bellator MMA has been put on hold, and Ricardo Tirloni is the beneficiary.

A knee injury has knocked Sinclair (12-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) out of his opening-round fight against Rich Clementi (45-22-1 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) in Bellator’s Season 9 lightweight tournament. Tirloni (15-4 MMA, 2-3 BMMA) will move up from a fight against Marcin Held (15-3 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) on the prelims to fight “No Love” in the tournament, which starts later this month at Bellator 101.

Bellator 101 takes place Sept. 27 at The Moda Center at Rose Quarter (formerly known as Rose Garden) in Portland. The five-fight main card, which features four opening-round fights in the tourney and the promotional debut of UFC veteran Cheick Kongo against Mark Godbeer, will air on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Tirloni has lost three of his past four fights. After signing with Bellator on a 10-fight win streak, he won his promotional debut at Bellator 55. But then he was stopped by Rick Hawn midway through their Season 6 lightweight tournament opening-round fight. He rebounded in the Season 7 tournament’s opening round, submitting Rene Nazare at Bellator 77. But he dropped a split decision to Dave Jansen in the semifinals, then lost to Will Brooks in the Season 8 tourney’s opening round. He gets an unexpected new chance now in Season 9.

Clementi will be looking to rebound after a loss to Held in the Season 8 tournament semifinals in November, when he was submitted in the second round. That snapped a three-fight win streak for the UFC vet. Now he gets another shot in a crowded and talent-rich lightweight tournament field.

Sinclair was looking to stretch his winning streak to six in what would’ve been his first fight outside of his native England. Nearly a year ago, he beat UFC vet Andre Winner at BAMMA 10, but he hasn’t fought since and now will be on the shelf even longer.

On the prelims, instead of meeting Tirloni, Held will fight Portland’s own Ryan Healy (23-12 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who will be making his Bellator debut. The 30-year-old has cage experience against the likes of Rob McCullough, Jorge Masvidal, Rick Story, John Alessio and Lloyd Woodard, and he’ll be fighting for the first time in 2013. He has 18 of his 23 pro wins by stoppage.

Held had a five-fight win streak snapped by Dave Jansen at Bellator 93 in March in the Season 7 tournament’s finals. That bout was delayed from December, when the two were supposed to fight – but couldn’t because Held couldn’t get into the casino venue in Indiana because he was only 20 years old at the time. Still regarded as one of Bellator’s best young prospects, he’ll be looking to get back on track to earn a spot in a future lightweight tournament.

With the changes, the complete Bellator 101 card now includes:

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

• Mark Godbeer vs. Cheick Kongo – heavyweight tournament semifinals
• Marcus Davis vs. Alexander Sarnavskiy – lightweight tournament opening round
• John Alessio vs. Will Brooks – lightweight tournament opening round
• Saad Awad vs. Martin Stapleton – lightweight tournament opening round
• Rich Clementi vs. Ricardo Tirloni – lightweight tournament opening round

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)

• Ryan Healy vs. Marcin Held
• Tyson Jeffries vs. Joe Pacheco
• Nathan Coy vs. Andy Uhrich
• Peter Aspenwal vs. Jeremiah Riggs
• Brent Primus vs. Scott Thometz
• Brent Alvarez vs. Austin Springer

For the latest on Bellator 101, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Ricardo Tirloni)