Vargas injury scraps Bellator 169 fight with Harper, Elina Kallionidou-Sinead Kavanagh added

The lineup for this week’s Bellator 169 card, which is the promotion’s debut in Ireland, has undergone a late change.

Bruna Vargas (2-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has been forced out of her fight against Helen Harper (4-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) with an injury, which takes that bout off the main card in Dublin, the promotion today announced. Harper will be paid her show money, the promotion said.

In its place, a new women’s featherweight bout is set for the main card. Sinead Kavanagh (3-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will take on Elina Kallionidou (5-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at the event.

Bellator 169, which is a joint venture with BAMMA, takes place Dec. 16 at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie. In the main event, Muhammed Lawal meets Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight fight.

Kavanagh, who lives and trains in Dublin, has all three of her pro MMA fights for BAMMA. Two of her first three wins have been by knockout. The 18-year-old Kallionidou, from Greece, is a regional champion in her home country. She has three knockouts in her first five pro wins. She’ll be fighting outside her home country for the first time.

The complete Bellator 169 card, including the BAMMA 27 card in the prelims, now includes:

MAIN CARD

• Satoshi Ishii vs. Muhammed Lawal
• James Gallagher vs. Anthony Taylor
• Brian Moore vs. Daniel Weichel
• Elina Kallionidou vs. Sinead Kavanagh
• Luiz Tosta vs. Shay Walsh

BAMMA 27 card

• Tom Duquesnoy vs. Alan Philpott – for BAMMA bantamweight title
• Andrew Clamp vs. Chris Fields
• Niklas Backstrom vs. Ronnie Mann
• Sean Tobin vs. Dylan Tuke
• Jai Herbert vs. Rhys McKee
• Kiefer Crosbie vs. Conor Riordan
• Walter Gahadza vs. Nathan Jones
• Ian Cleary vs. Andrew Lofthouse
• Terry Brazier vs. Niklas Stolze
• Conor Dillon vs. Richie Smullen
• Blaine O’Driscoll vs. Neil Ward
• Richard Kiely vs. Keith McCabe
• Will Fleury vs. Kyle Mclurkin

For more on Bellator 169, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.