Maybe no one wants to fight Liam McGeary at Bellator 173.
After Vladimir Filipovic agreed to replace Chris Fields and face the former Bellator light heavyweight champion this Friday night, Filipovic is now reported as being out himself. Visa issues, according to a report by MMAjunkie, are to blame for the change.
McGeary (11-1) will now meet Brett McDermott (7-4) in the main event from Belfast, Northern Ireland and The SSE Arena. The event airs via tape-delay on Spike.
This is McGeary’s first fight since losing the title to Phil Davis, which snapped an 11-fight win streak for the 34-year-old.
McDermott has scored six knockouts among his seven wins and will be making his Bellator debut. He previously fought Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the RIZIN open-weight tournament.
MAIN CARD (Spike/9 p.m. ET via tape delay)
Liam McGeary vs. Brett McDermott
James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky
Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison
Colin Fletcher vs. Alex Lohore
PRELIMINARY CARD
Norman Parke vs. Paul Redmond
Dominique Wooding vs. Andy Young – for BAMMA interim world flyweight title
Damien Lapilus vs. Ronnie Mann – for vacant BAMMA world featherweight title
Rhys McKee vs. Myles Price – for BAMMA Lonsdale lightweight title
Pelu Adetola vs. John Redmond
Jai Herbert vs. Steve Owens
Daniel Rutkowski vs. Niall Smith
Ross McCorriston vs. Blaine O’Driscoll
Stephen Kilifin vs. Andrew Murphy
Daniel Olejniczak vs. Jonathan Reid
Glenn Irvine vs. Keith McCabe
