Canadian Chris Clements has replaced the injured Thiago Alves at UFC 149 in Calgary and will fight Siyar Bahadurzada, a source told Sportsnet’s (Showdown) Joe Ferraro.
Both welterweights are coming off wins in their UFC debuts.
Clements (11-4) defeated Keith Wisniewski by split decision at UFC 145 on April 21, while Bahadurzada (21-4-1) is coming off a 42-second knockout of Paulo Thiago on April 14 at the UFC’s first event in Sweden.
In his seven-year MMA career the Chatham, Ont., native has gone up against Canadian UFC veterans John Alessio, Jesse Bongfeldt and Jonathan Goulet. He also holds the unofficial MMA record for fastest knockout at a mere three seconds.
UFC 149 takes place on July 21 at the Scotiabank Saddledome and is headlined by a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch.
In addition to Clements, five other Canadians are scheduled to compete on the Alberta card: Calgary’s Nick Ring takes on TUF 11 winner Court McGee; Saskatchewan’s Mitch Clarke meets Anton Kuivanen; Sudbury, Ont.’s Mitch Gagnon debuts against Bryan Caraway; Ajax, Ont.’s Antonio Carvalho fights George Roop; and former MFC light-heavyweight champion Ryan Jimmo of Saint John goes up against Anthony Perosh
