Magnus Cedenblad out of UFC Fight Night 30, replacement sought for Sakara

Magnus Cedenblad was an injury replacement on the UFC’s return to England, and now he’s an injury casualty, himself.

An injury has forced Cedenblad (11-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) out of a UFC Fight Night 30 bout against Alessio Sakara (15-10 MMA, 6-7 UFC) later this month. Sources close to the event confirmed the news to MMAjunkie.com on Monday, though the UFC has not yet made an official announcement. The UFC is believed to be seeking a replacement to meet Sakara.

UFC Fight Night 30 takes place Oct. 26 at Manchester Arena in England. The bulk of the card airs on FOX Sports 2 following prelims on Facebook.

Cedenblad was an injury replacement for Tom Watson (16-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who was forced out of the middleweight fight in September.

Cedenblad recorded a fast submission win over Jared Hamman at UFC 164 in Milwaukee in late August. The Swede needed just 57 seconds in that fight to stop Hamman with a guillotine choke. That got him his first UFC victory after suffering a loss to Francis Carmont in his promotional debut in April 2012.

In early 2010, Sakara had a three-fight winning streak. But since then, he’s suffered three consecutive losses to Chris Weidman, Brian Stann and then Patrick Cote. Although the loss to Cote was by disqualification, the Italian striker was in control of the bout and only suffered the defeat due to elbows that were deemed illegal and to the back of the head. But he has been out since that fight due to kidney issues.

With the change, the latest UFC Fight Night 30 card now includes:

• Lyoto Machida vs. Mark Munoz
• Melvin Guillard vs. Ross Pearson
• Phil Harris vs. John Lineker
• Jimy Hettes vs. Mike Wilkinson
• Anthony Njokuani vs. Paul Taylor
• Ryan Jimmo vs. Jimi Manuwa
• Alessio Sakara TBA
• Luke Barnatt vs. Andrew Craig
• Michael Kuiper vs. Brad Scott
• Jessica Andrade vs. Rosi Sexton
• Norman Parke vs. Jon Tuck
• Cole Miller vs. Andy Ogle

For more on UFC Fight Night 30, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Magnus Cedenblad)