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Ben Saunders injured, forced to withdraw from UFC Fight Night in Brazil

Published Mar. 7, 2015 4:03 p.m. ET

Damon Martin

The upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has taken another big hit as co-main event fighter Ben Saunders has been forced out of his fight against Erick Silva.

Sources close to the situation confirmed the news to FOX Sports on Saturday following an initial report from Sherdog.com.

Saunders suffered a rib injury that forced him to withdraw from the fight, which was bumped up to the co-main event after the original headliner between Urijah Faber and Raphael Assuncao was pulled several weeks back.

The new main event pits Demian Maia against Ryan LaFlare in a welterweight matchup, but now the upcoming show is without a co-main event with the loss of Saunders.

UFC officials have yet to comment on the injury or if Silva will remain on the card against a different opponent.

UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare goes down Saturday night, March 21 from Brazil with the prelims airing on FOX Sports 2 and the main card on FOX Sports 1.

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