Shoulder Injury Wipes Gamburyan from UFC 135 Slate

The California-based featherweight Monday announced his exit from the card, which takes place Sept. 24 at Pepsi Center in Denver.

“I’m [off] from the UFC 135 card. I hurt my shoulder and MRI is not looking good,” Gamburyan (Pictured) wrote on Twitter. “I just wanna say sorry to [all] my friends and fans. I’ll [be] back!”

Gamburyan, a former World Extreme Cagefighting 145-pound title challenger, also pulled out of a March engagement with Raphael Assuncao at UFC 128 due to a back injury. The judo black belt made his UFC return in June, dropping a majority decision to Tyson Griffin at UFC Live 4.

News of Gamburyan’s withdrawal came as a surprise to his opponent, Nunes, who Monday explained to Tatame.com that he had been anticipating the bout due to a year-long “beef” between the two.

“It was [WEC 51] in Colorado, when Jose Aldo fought him and I fought a local guy [Tyler Toner],” Nunes told the Brazilian website. “When we were autographing the event posters, I was distracted and signed on the head of Manny Gamburyan. A guy from the UFC said ‘not there,’ and I apologized because I was distracted. When [Gamburyan] was signing, he saw the signature on his forehead and found it disrespectful.”

The UFC has yet to announce a replacement opponent for Nunes.