Patricky Freire Out, Tofiq Musayev In For Bellator 283 Main Event

Patricky Freire is out from his first ever title defense.

Due to an undisclosed injury, Freire has been forced of his planned lightweight title defense against Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 283, Sherdog reported.

Instead, former RIZIN champion Tofiq Musayev will face Outlaw in the main event. Musayev was originally set to fight Adam Piccolotti on the undercard, but Piccolotti also suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw.

On July 22, Bellator 283 will take place at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, and Douglas Lima and Jason Jackson will now square off in a welterweight co-main event.

Showtime will broadcast the main card of the evening.

In their rematch fight on November 5, Freire won the 155-pound title by second-round TKO over Peter Queally at Bellator 270.

The 36-year-old “Pitbull” brother has competed since 2011 under the Bellator, amassing a 15-8 record while defeating opponents like Benson Henderson, Josh Thomson, Ryan Couture, and Roger Huerta.

Outlaw has won three of his last four promotional fights, with Bellator 237’s Michael Chandler handing him his lone defeat.

Outlaw will face Musayev, who defeated Freire in 2019. Since that bout, he only fought once and lost against Roberto de Souza.