Thiago (14-3) was slated to meet Mike Pyle at UFC 142 but an injury knocked him off of the Brazilian card. Fans last saw the 30-year old defeat David Mitchell in front of his fellow Brazilians at UFC 134 in Rio.

Bahadurzada will be making his UFC debut after putting together an impressive 20-4-1 run while competing in Holland and Japan including wins over John Alessio and Evangelista Santos. Nicknamed “The Great”, Bahadurzada was also scheduled to compete at UFC 142 but, like Thiago was forced out of the show after suffering an injury while training for the bout.

The match-up was first reported by Swedish outlet MMANytt and has since been confirmed my MMAWeekly.

Other fights on the spring card include DaMarques Johnson vs. John Maguire and Alessio Sakara vs. Brian Stann.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/SRC

Thiago (14-3) was expected to face Mike Pyle in his native country of Brazil, but the welterweight was injured in training and knocked from the fight. A replacement for Pyle has not been announced.

News of the potential change was first reported by TATAME.

Thiago , who earned a victory over David Mitchell earlier this year at the last UFC card in Brazil, isn’t the only fighter to be removed from the event. Rob Broughton, Siyar Bahadurzada, and Stanislov Nedkov have all been dropped from their planned bouts over the past few days.

UFC 142 is headlined by a UFC featherweight contest between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. The co-main event is set to be Vitor Belfort against Anthony Johnson.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Unsurprisingly, the card has been stacked with Brazilian fighters, led by featherweight champion Jose Aldo who will defend his title against Chad Mendes in the show’s main event.

Now, Tatame is reporting that a bout between welterweights Paulo Thiago (14-3) and Mike Pyle (21-8-1) is targeted for the event. Pyle was last seen getting handled at the hands of rising prodigy Rory MacDonald at UFC 133. For his part, Thiago  will be hoping to enjoy the same luck he did when he last competed in front of his compatriots, as a dominating performance saw him out-gun David Mitchell last summer in Rio.

Thiago was at the heart of one of the most shocking debuts in UFC history when he knocked out Josh Koscheck back in 2009.

Other fights scheduled for UFC 142 include Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares and Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

A report on Sherdog confirmed Thiago’s participation and expected opponent in the form 11-1 David Mitchell based on a conversation with the Brazilian law officer.

Thiago hasn’t fought since October with back-to-back decision losses in his previous pair of outings. He is 13-3 with eight submission wins while Mitchell boasts a similar feat with nine subs in his eleven total victories.

Meanwhile, Tatame relayed word of Palhares’ presence after the submission savvy powerhouse’s coach, former UFC middleweight champ Murilo Bustamante, alluded to the possibility on Twitter.

If the 12-3 “Toquinho” does indeed receive the opportunity to compete in front of his countrymen at UFC Rio he will look to build on a second round Heel Hook win over Dave Branch at UFC Live 3 in March. The submission marked his fifth by way of the technique in nine total tap-outs.

UFC Rio is set to feature what should be a number of exciting affairs including co-headlining tilts between 185-pound king Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami, as well as former light heavyweight champions Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Forrest Griffin battling it out in front of the Brazilian crowd.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The news of the potential bout comes courtesy of a recent report over at MMAFanhouse, citing UFC 109 as the card the two are expected to face off at.

UFC 109 is expected to take place on February 6 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas with unofficial yet very possible match-ups of Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman and Nate Marquardt vs. Vitor Belfort also anticipated for the card.

With only two of his eighteen professional bouts not taking place in the UFC, Koscheck is an Octagon veteran of the the most experienced pedigree. The American Kickboxing Academy trained fighter holds impressive victories over the previously noted Trigg and Johnson, along with Diego Sanchez, Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle.

Paulo Thiago lost a whole lot of people a whole lot of money at UFC 95 when he deposited a perfectly timed uppercut directly to the chin of Koscheck for the widely unanticipated TKO victory. Since that stunning win in his UFC debut the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt went on to drop a unanimous decision at the hands of Koscheck’ training partner Jon Fitch before recently bouncing back into the win column with a unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Jacob Volkmann at UFC 106.

Thiago’s manager Wallid Ismail recently revealed the news of the bout to Terra Magazine, and FiveOuncesofPain.com has subsequently confirmed the bout through sources close to the match-up.

Thiago will be looking to [place himself back into the winners circle following a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Jon Fitch during UFC 100. Just prior to the loss Paulo shocked many when he left Octagon veteran Josh Koscheck in a daze via TKO in the Brazilian’s UFC debut.

Volkmann trains out of Minnesota Martial Arts Academy and sports a career record of 9-0. Known for his strong wrestling base and tenacious fighting style, Volkmann’s last trip to the cage saw him secure a first round submission over Kevin Knabjian during a Bellator event in May.

A full list of the bouts expected for UFC 106 are listed below:

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett

Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni

Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis

Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt

George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent

Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Brian Foster vs. Brock Larson

Fabricio Camoes vs. Caol Uno

Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann

According to a recent report on MMAMania.com, Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago is currently in the negotiation stages and verbally agreed to by at least one of the fighters.

UFC 107 is set for December 12th at the Fedex Forum in Memphis, TN.

Paulo Thiago is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Jon Fitch back in UFC 100, serving as his only defeat as a professional. This will mark the third tough opponent for Thiago, since debuting with a stunning upset knockout victory over Josh Koshcheck at UFC 95.

Thiago Alves, considered to be a top five contender in the welterweight division, is coming off a unanimous decision loss himself, to champion Georges St. Pierre. Prior to his loss to St. Pierre, Alves was riding a seven fight win streak, with notable wins over Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan, and Josh Koshcheck as well.

UFC 107 has yet to be officially announced, but a previously expected main event pitting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “Suger” Rashad Evans is off due to Rampage’s recent jump into the acting world.

According to a report from the Brazilian website Tatame, a welterweight clash between Koshcheck teammate Jon Fitch and Thiago is being discussed for UFC 100, which will take place July 11 in Las Vegas.

Fitch rebounded nicely against Japanese import Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 in January after losing a welterweight title match vs. Georges St. Pierre this past August at UFC 87. Before the loss to St. Pierre, Fitch was riding an amazing 15 fight win streak with eight of those wins coming inside the Octagon.

Fitch’s resume of victories reads as a who’s who of UFC superstars. Since joining the organization in 2005, he has defeated the likes of Brock Larson, Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez.

Thiago (11-0) made his debut at UFC 95 taking on top five welterweight Josh Koshcheck in what many thought was a tuneup fight for The Ultimate Fighter season 1 veteran. Koshcheck,was coming off a brutal knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at the UFC’s special “Fight for the Troops” event in Fayetteville, North Carolina this past December.

The former NCAA All-American wrestler was in control of the fight vs. Thiago pretty until getting caught with an uppercut-left hook combination that sent him sprawling to the canvas. Thiago went in for the finish but the referee called a stop to the contest before he could inflict additional damage. Koshcheck stated afterward that he felt the fight was stopped prematurely.

While the UFC has yet to officially announce any bouts for the card, the show is expected to feature Georges St. Pierre defending the UFC welterweight title vs. number one contender Thiago Alves in addition to the possible Fitch vs. Thiago matchip. Also expected is a head-to-head showdown between rival coaches from the upcoming ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping.

Also possible for UFC 100 is heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir that had been scheduled for May 23 at UFC 98 but was postponed due to Mir’s recent knee surgery.

Two other reported matchups include Dong Hyun Kim vs. Jonathan Goulet, Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman and Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty. According to MMAjunkie.com, negotiations are also taking place regarding a possible middleweight matchup between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher.

According to a report by the Brazilian MMA website Tatame, Koscheck is set to face the debuting Paulo Thiago in one of the show’s featured bouts.

Thiago was signed to a UFC contract after having begun his professional MMA career with a perfect 10-0 record. Competing exclusively in his native country of Brazil, the submission specialist has spent much of his career in the Jungle Fight promotion.

Koscheck is coming off a first round knockout over Yoshiyuki Yoshida during last month’s “UFC Fight for the Troops” event in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Prior to the win over Yoshida, Koscheck had competed just six weeks prior, losing at unanimous decision to Thiago Alves at UFC 90 on Oct. 25.

UFC 95 be headlined by the lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez as he takes on former UFC lightweight title challenger Joe Stevenson. Both Sanchez and Stevenson are former winners of The Ultimate Fighter reality television series on Spike TV.

Other reported matchups for UFC 95 include Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen, Nathan Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia, Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve, Shannon Gugerty vs. Jeff Lawson, and Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim.

As of now, the UFC’s broadcast plans for the event have yet to be announced but the card’s headlining bouts are expected to air on Spike TV in the U.S. as opposed to pay-per-view.

Australian Brad Morris (8-2) will take on highly touted Cain Velasquez (2-0).

Morris is coming off of a TKO win over UFC veteran Kristof Midoux at Bodog Fight: Vancouver back in August of last year.

Cain Velasquez fights out of American Kickboxing Academy and will come into this fight with a lot of praise already heaped upon him. In a recent interview with UFC welterweight Jon Fitch done by 5 Oz’s very own Sam Caplan, Fitch went as far as to label Velasquez, “the biggest and baddest heavyweight” around.

UFC 83 is headlined by a UFC welterweight title clash between current UFC welterweight champion, Matt Serra and current interim UFC welterweight champion, Georges St.Pierre.

Read more UFC 83 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.