Antonio Carlos Junior out of UFC 231 fight against Elias Theodorou

Antonio Carlos Junior and Elias Theodorou were supposed to fight on Sept. 22 in Brazil, but Carlos Junior had to pull out due to injury. However, the fight was quickly rescheduled for UFC 231 on December 8, this time in Theodorou’s hometown of Toronto.

Even with the fight being pushed back almost four months it still wasn’t enough time for Carlos Junior. The injury he sustained was more severe than he originally thought as he tweeted at Theodorou that he will be out of their matchup on Dec. 8 for UFC 231.

Hey @EliasTheodorou Really sorry man! The injury I had is a little more serious then I thought. I’ll need a surgery, so won’t be able to fight Dec 8th.
Pity, I was going to give you a bjj lesson, and not hurt you cause your cool!!! @Alexdavismma

— Cara de Sapato (@caradesapatojr) September 14, 2018

“Hey @EliasTheodorou Really sorry man! The injury I had is a little more serious then I thought. I’ll need a surgery, so won’t be able to fight Dec 8th. Pity, I was going to give you a bjj lesson, and not hurt you cause your cool!!! @Alexdavismma” – Antonio Carlos Junior on Twitter

Elias Theodorou vs. Antonio Carlos Junior was an interesting matchup between the 14th ranked middleweight in Theodorou and the 11th ranked Carlos Junior. The fight was destined to go to the ground as Carlos Junior is dominant with BJJ, while Theodorou’s wrestling and grappling is not to go unnoticed.

Theodorou will most likely remain on the card, just fighting a new opponent. For who that opponent is, Eryk Anders make sense given he called out Theodorou just after his knockout win over Tim Williams at UFC Fight Night 135.

UFC 231 goes down on Dec. 8, and Anders should be able to make a fast enough turn around to take on Theodorou in hostile territory.

For now, however, Theodorou will be waiting to see if he will remain on the card, and if so who his next opponent will be.

The UFC 231 lineup currently includes:

• Chad Laprise vs. Dhiego Lima
• Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Gilbert Burns
• Elias Theodorou vs. TBA
• Kyle Bochniak vs. Hakeem Dawodu
• Devin Clark vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Nina Ansaroff vs. Claudia Gadelha

Multiple reports have suggested that the card will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Brian Ortega, but the bout has not yet been made official.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/14/2018.