This Saturday Night’s UFC Fight Night 106 card has taken a hit as a featherweight division fight between Godofredo Pepey and Kyle Bochniak has been pulled from the card.
The fighters were both pulled from the card after both of them suffered injuries during their training camps.
Pepey and Bochniak were scheduled to fight on the Fox Sports 1 portion of the preliminary card.
It was an orbital fracture that knocked Pepey out of the fight, something he addressed on Instagram:
Here is the English translation of the post:
"Good morning, guys. Unfortunately, I'm out of UFC Fortaleza because of an orbital fracutre. I have had this same fracture due to years of sparring, but I kept training as usual. This time around, the doctors didn't let me continue and for my own well being, I was unauthorized to fight. I'll be ready to fight again in a couple of weeks and ready to put on an excellent fight for all of you. Maximum respect for all who believe in me."
With this fight being pulled from the card, a bantamweight division contest between #13 Rani Yahya and Joe Soto has been promoted from the UFC Fight Pass portion of the preliminary card to the Fox Sports 1 portion of the preliminary card.
Soto (17-5-0) will be entering the fight on the strength of a two fight winning streak, with those victories coming over the duo of Chris Beal and Marco Beltran. Soto has previously challenged for the UFC Bantamweight Title, losing to then champion TJ Dillashaw by TKO at UFC 177. Soto is also a former Tachi Palace Fights Bantamweight Champion, he defeated Terrion Ware at TPF 20 to win the gold.
Yahya (23-8-0-1NC) will be entering the fight while riding a four fight winning streak, with those four wins coming over Johnny Bedford, Masanori Kanehara, Matthew Lopez and Michinori Tanaka. Yahya will be competing in his sixth straight “Fight Night” event, he has a record of 4-0-0-1NC in his past five “Fight Night” events. Yahya has also challenged for the World Extreme Cagefighting Bantamweight Title, losing to Chase Beebe at WEC 30 in 2007.
UFC Fight Night 106 takes place on Saturday, March 11 from the Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil with Kelvin Gastelum and Vitor Belfort headlining, the main card airs live on Fox Sports 1.
