Akiyama Out, Thiago Alves Draws KO Artist as New UFC 149 Opponent

Just days after officially announcing the fight card for UFC 149 in Calgary, changes are afoot.

Newly minted welterweight Yoshihiro Akiyama is out due to an undisclosed injury. Siyar Bahadurzada has agreed to step in for him against Thiago Alves, according to UFC officials.

Though he finally appears to have his weight-cutting issues under control, Alves has had a rough go of it as of late. After dropping back-to-back bouts to Georges St-Pierre and Jon Fitch, he has alternated between wins and losses, failing to gain any momentum.

Alves (19-9) is coming off of a loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX 2 in March, once again trying to get back on track.

Bahadurzada (21-4) had his planned UFC debut derailed due to injury, but was successful once he finally set foot in the Octagon. He enters the fight with Alves coming off of a 42-second knockout of highly respected welterweight Paulo Thiago at UFC on Fuel TV 2 in Sweden.

A UFC featherweight showdown between champion Jose Aldo and Erik Koch headlines the UFC 149 fight card on July 21 in Calgary.

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