With UFC 158 just about one month away, a late injury has forced Canadian bantamweight Mitch Gagnon out of his fight with Issei Tamura. He posted a full statement on his official Facebook page:
I can’t believe I am writing this right now…
I am sad to announce that I will no longer be competing at UFC 158. Unfortunately I sustained an injury that puts me out for a while. My heart is broken; I want to compete more than anything in the world. I am sorry to my opponent Issei Tamura and to my fans and sponsors.
I can’t even being to describe how much the fan support fuels me. It is my missi…on to make this up to all of you with spectacular future performances. I am going to take this time to continue studying the sport I love so much. My next opponent will be facing a scary and determined human being.
I will still be having an after party though. So I want to see your faces there and we can enjoy this amazing fight card together.
I want to thank all of my sponsors, Tapout Burlington, Rastall toolcorp, and all of my other partners.
Gagnon (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has fought all of his bouts exclusively in Canada and predominantly in Montreal, where UFC 158 is being held. He earned a FOTN bonus in his loss to Bryan Caraway at UFC 149, and then notched his first UFC win by submitting Walel Watson in Toronto in September 2012.
Tamura (7-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) viciously knocked out Zhang Tiequan at UFC 144 in Japan, but Tamura himself was knocked out by Raphael Assuncao last July in San Jose. The Assuncao fight marked the first time Issei had fought outside of his native Japan.
It is unknown at this point whether or not Tamura will get a replacement opponent.