While TFC executives were left scrambling at the last minute to fill the void created by Davis’ absence, it appears they have adequately done so and in close to record time as well. According to an official press release from the company, UFC veteran Rich Clementi has been added to the event. However, based on weight differential he will not face Downing and instead take on KC native Aaron Derrow.

“I was heartbroken to hear about L.C.’s injury because I know how much it meant to him to be able to come back to Kansas City and compete in front of his friends and family,” Titan Fighting CEO Joe Kelly explained to media. “However, we really feel good about being able to secure a fighter the stature of Clementi on such short notice.”

Clementi is 39-17-1 in his career with thirty two of his wins coming by way of a finishing performance. He holds past victories over UFC competitors Anthony Johnson, Sam Stout, and Melvin Guillard.

It is expected Downing will be kept off the card in order to maintain his match-up with Davis for March 25 at Titan Fighting Championships 16. No decision has been made on how Derrow’s originally scheduled opponent, Alonzo Martinez, will be handled.

Clementi vs. Derrow joins a handful of other notable pairings slated for the HDNet airwaves at 10:00 PM EST on the 28th including Drew McFedries vs. Gary Tapasua and Jason High vs. Rudy Bears, as well a headlining clash between TUF 10’s Abe Wagner and two-time UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia.

Headlining the card was former All-American wrestler and Bellator Season 2 veteran Carey Vanier squaring off against battle-tested UFC veteran Rich “No Love” Clementi for a spot in the upcoming Bellator Lightweight Tournament. It was an opportunity for the up-and-coming Vanier to redeem himself following Season 2 Tournament Semi-Final defeat at the hands of “2009 Submission of the Year” winner Toby Imada and the former training partner of fellow Bellator lightweight Roger Huerta took full advantage of it. Vanier weathered the early storm from the seasoned Louisiana-based favorite, escaping several submission attempts, before taking the fight to Clementi in his own backyard, scoring multiple takedowns and landing several heavy knees that opened a nasty gash over the eye of the veteran of over fifty fights on his way to the split decision victory.*

Rounding out the main card was four-time All-American and NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion Eric Larkin, who made his Bellator debut against fellow undefeated prospect Marcus Andrusia. The decorated wrestler made his debut with the promotion count, as the former Arizona State Sun Devil landed a devastating head kick just seconds into the first round before ultimately utilizing his extensive wrestling background to lock up an air-tight guillotine choke submission early in the opening round to pick up his third professional victory in impressive fashion.

In 145-pound action, Season 2 Featherweight Semifinalist Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan took on hard-hitting WEC veteran Anthony Leone. Karakhanyan was the aggressor from the opening bell, scoring with a variety of strikes and takedowns to out-hustle Leone in a closely contested fight on his way to the split decision victory.

Fellow Season 2 Semi-Finalist Eric Schambari returned to the Bellator cage to face off with eccentric Bellator and UFC veteran Matt Horwich in a grueling middleweight battle. The powerful Schambari took control of the fight early, punishing Horwich with heavy leather often during the first two rounds while the relentless “fan of the multi-universe” continued to march forward, answering with strikes of his own before a late takedown from Schambari left little doubt to the result. When the dust had a chance to settle following three hard-fought rounds from both men, Schambari left the cage with the victory on his record via split decision.

A full list of results from the event are listed below:

Scott O’Shaughnessy def. Gabe Woods via submission (Armbar) – Round 3, 2:11
Charlie Rader def. Josh Rafferty via TKO (Strikes) – Round 1, 1:14
Jonathan Mackles def. Brock Kerry via Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Tony Roberts def. Kelvin Doss via Submission (Punches) – Round 1
Georgi Karakhanyan def. Anthony Leone via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30 27)
Eric Schambari def. Matt Horwich via Split Decision (30-27, 30-27, 28-29)
Eric Larkin def. Marcus Andrusia via Submission (Guillotine Choke) – Round 1, 2:46
Carey Vanier def. Rich Clementi via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

* – The knee opening up the cut on Clementi’s brow was illegally landed but did not result in a point-deduction

Bellator 28 headliner Carey Vanier registered in at 156 pounds for his bout against UFC veteran Rich Clementi, while the Louisiana native measured in at 155.6 pounds himself. Vanier made it as far as the semi-final round of Bellator’s Season 2 lightweight tournament before being submitted by Toby Imada, while Clementi will be making his promotional debut with notable wins in his career over Anthony Johnson, Terry Etim, and Sam Stout.

Also on the card, former IFL champ Matt Horwich came in at 185.6 pounds in hopes of stringing together a second consecutive win by beating another Bellator Season 2 Tournament Semi-Finalist, Eric Schambari. Horwich recently snapped a two-fight losing streak by submitting BJJ specialist Thales Leites on August 14th at PWP‘s “War on the Mainland” event.

His opponent, Schambari, is 12-2 as a professional and had won five fights in a row before being choked out by Bryan Baker last May at Bellator 20.

The full results of the weigh-ins are as follows:

Scott O’Shaughnessy (155.8 lbs.) vs. Gabe Woods (153.8 lbs.)
Josh Rafferty (169.2 lbs) vs. Charlie Rader (170.8 lbs)
Jonathan Mackles (135.6 lbs) vs. Brock Kerry (135.8 lbs)
Tony Roberts (229.6 lbs) vs. Kelvin Doss (232.8 lbs)
Tonny Canales (151.8 lbs) vs. J.C. Pennington (154.8 lbs)
Marcus Andrusia (155.4 lbs) vs. Eric Larkin (155.4 lbs)
Matt Horwich (185.6 lbs) vs. Eric Schambari (184.2 lbs)
Anthony Leone (146 lbs) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (145.4 lbs)
Carey Vanier (156 lbs) vs. Rich Clementi (155.6 lbs)

Headlining the card will be a lightweight battle between Season 2 Lightweight semifinalist Carey Vanier (9-3) and explosive UFC veteran Rich “No Love” Clementi (37-16-1).

Vanier TKO’d his way into the semi-finals in Season 2, but fell to submission specialist Toby Imada at Bellator 17. Vanier will be hungry for a win at Bellator 29, which marks his first fight back since the loss to Imada.

An eight year Navy veteran and eleven year, 54-fight MMA veteran, Clementi comes to Bellator Fighting Championships after spending the last decade fighting some of the toughest opponents MMA has to offer. Well known for stopping his opponents early, 20 of No Love’s 36 victories have come via submission with another nine being finished via KO or TKO.

Also on the card, will be a closely contested match-up between two powerful middleweights when Bellator Season 2 semifinalist Eric Schambari (12-2) takes on battle-tested UFC veteran Matt Horwich (25-15-1).

In featherweight action, hard-hitting Season 2 semifinalist Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan (13-2-1) collides with dangerous WEC veteran Anthony Leone (8-1).

Karakhayan is understandably eager for a victory after dropping a unanimous decision to eventual Season 2 Featherweight Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 18.

The Fox Sports Net event will also feature an exciting lightweight fight between fast-rising NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion Eric Larkin and up-and-coming Louisiana native Marcus Andrusia.

“We’re happy to be headed o New Orleans,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “This event has some great fights scheduled and it should make for a great night of fights for New Orleans fans.”

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was informed by a source Monday afternoon that Clementi was dropped from the UFC roster shortly after Saturday’s first round submission loss against Gleison Tibau during UFC Fight Night 17.

The defeat was Clementi’s second in a row after having also dropped a unanimous decision to Gray Maynard at UFC 90 this past October.

Prior to the consecutive defeats, the Louisiana native had won five consecutive fights with four wins coming while competing under the UFC banner against Anthony Johnson, Melvin Guillard, Sam Stout and Terry Etim.

The release completes Clementi’s third stint in the UFC. His first tour of duty with the promotion ended at UFC 41 in 2003 following a third round submission loss to Yves Edwards. He then made a successful return to the UFC after having been featured during the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which was subtitled “The Comeback.”

Despite losing to Din Thomas via second round submission during the TUF 4 finale, Clementi was brought back for UFC Fight Night 8 in January of 2007, where he submitted Ross Pointon in a welterweight matchup. However, he was not resigned after losing a unanimous decision to Roan Carneiro at UFC Fight Night 9.

After recording a win outside of the UFC, Clementi returned to the promotion at UFC 76 in September of 2007, where he recorded a upset second round submission against Johnson.

Since that fight, Maynard has been missing in action, thanks largely in part to an injury. However, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that the former standout college wrestler appears set to return to action on Oct. 25 at UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill in a lightweight bout with veteran Rich Clementi.

The fight has yet to be finalized but MMA Junkie is quoting sources connected to both camps as saying that signed bout agreements and a formal announcement could come soon.

Clementi is currently on a six fight win streak and holds notable wins in his career over Sam Stout, Melvin Guillard, Ryan Schultz, and Anthony Johnson.

Both Clementi and Maynard are alumni from the Spike TV reality television show “The Ultimate Fighter” with Maynard having appeared on season five and Clementi having been involved with season four, “The Comeback.”

UFC 90 is scheduled to be headlined by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva defending his title against Patrick Cote. A fight between Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves in which a winner will be granted a future shot at the UFC welterweight title is also slated as well.

- Though Sherdog then came through again, stating Gary Goodridge would be named as a replacement on the Affliction card against Buentello since he was already licensed to fight in the state.

- James Irvin originally weighed in at 207.5lbs for his main event against Anderson Silva but on his second try made 206lbs to get to the light-heavyweight limit. Every fighter on the UFC card made weight for their fights on Saturday.

- Everyone made weight for the Affliction: Banned card (Fedor: 230lbs, Sylvia: 263lbs) outside of Justin Levens. Levens weighed in at 189lbs for his middleweight bout but was granted his fight against Ray Lazama, though he will give up a percentage of his purse to him.

Buentello, 25-10, also currently competes for Strikeforce and has also fought for the UFC in the past. The Texas native is looking to come back from a loss in his last fight, a submission due to knees to the body by Alistair Overeem last November. The bout was for the then-vacant Strikeforce heavyweight title.

Emelianenko, who is 13-3 in his MMA career, last fought on April 3 during the M-1 Challenge, where he recorded a first round TKO over Silvao Santos. Prior to the win over Santos, he had last competed for the now-defunct Hardcore Championship Fighting promotion last October. In that fight he submitted Dan Bobish with a guillotine choke at 1:09 of round 1.

The July show will be headlined by Emelianenko’s older brother, former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, who will be taking on former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

Other announced bouts include Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo, Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead, Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao. Ben Rothwell will be appearing on the card as well, against a yet-to-be-announced opponent. Many news outlets have speculated that Rothwell’s opponent could be former UFC heayweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

The 15-bout card is scheduled to feature several team challenges with fighters representing Russia, Japan, Korea and Finland. Three “superfights” will also be included, with the younger Emelianenko taking on Fabio Maldonado, Roman Zentsov facing off with Junior “Cigano” do Santos, and Amar Suloev squaring off with Jacek Buczko.

The entire card is as follows:

1. Marat Gelaev (Russia) vs. Yunus Evloev (Russia)

2. Victor Nemkov (Russia) vs. TBA

Main fights:

Team Finland vs. Team Korea…

3. Niko Puhakka (Finland) vs. Kim Jongman (Korea)

4. Janne Tulirinta (Finland) vs. Lee Yonghoon (Korea)

5. Lucio Linhares (Finland) vs. Lim Hyungyu (Korea)

6. Toni Valtonen (Finland) vs. Choi Seunghyun (Korea)

7. Jarno Nurminen (Finland) vs. Kim Jihoon (Korea)

Team Russia vs. Team Japan…

8. Yuri Ivlev (Russia) vs. Nakamura Daisuke (Japan)

9. Islam Karimov (Russia) vs. Hamamura Ken (Japan)

10. Ansar Chalangov (Russia) vs. Watanabe Yuta (Japan)

11. Besike Gerinava (Russia) vs. Sakuragi Yuji (Japan)

12. Ahmed Sultanov (Russia) vs. Fujii Katsuhisa (Japan)

Superfights:

13. Amar Suloev (Russia) vs. Jacek Buczko (Poland)

14. Roman Zentsov (Russia) vs Junior “Cigano” dos Santos (Brazil)

15. Aleksander Emelianenko (Russia) vs. Fabio Maldonado (Brazil)

This could be a big move for M-1, gobbling up some more of the UFC’s talent pool from which to draw fighters. While it never sounded like Barnett and the UFC were interested in coming to terms with one another and burying the hatchet from years past, it still leaves them without the option of signing Barnett. With the UFC’s heavyweight division in serious need of an infusion of talent, taking a heavyweight like Josh Barnett off the market is a pretty big deal.

Not to mention that if Josh Barnett has signed a deal with M-1, fans would possibly get a matchup that they’ve asked for many times before. If we can’t have Couture vs. Fedor right now then we’ll take Josh Barnett vs. Fedor as a consolation prize until Randy is done with whatever the hell he’s doing.

On to the news…

- I was able to touch base with Guy Mezger today and ask him for some more detail behind Mark Cuban’s new MMA project. You can read the highlights of my conversation in an article I that I wrote for CBSSports.com by clicking here.

- There’s a new promotion in Canada called Hardcore Championship Fighting that’s planning a big show on Oct. 19 in Calgary. The main event that’s being floated around right now is Wesley “Cabbage” Correia vs. Aleksander Emelianenko. HCF apparently has big money behind it and I’m hearing they are talking to some very big names.

- Do you want to speak with the most underrated fighter in MMA? Luke Thomas’ Any Given Saturday will be on a special night tonight at 10 p.m. ET and the guest will be UFC welterweight Jon Fitch. You can access the show at BloodyElbow.com and call-in as well (646-478-5091).

-  There’s a new Rampage interview available at Complex.com. You can check it out by clicking here.