Paulo Filho Off Bellator XVIII Card, Replaced By Jay Silva

After roughly a week of rumors that Paulo Filho would not be able to face Hector Lombard in their scheduled Bellator Superfight because of Visa issues Bjorn Rebney (Bellator CEO) said the fight was still a go on Saturday:

“I’ve been on the phone with all the appropriate people and we’ve got everything in line.”

Rebney today spoke to Filho’s representatives, who said that Filho is traveling from Brazil to the U.S.on Monday and will have his pre-fight medical paperwork completed the next day. But there is a Plan B if Filho fails to materialize.

“We’ve backed ourselves up; we’ve done everything we needed to do in protecting the sanctity of that event, but my hope is that he shows up,” Rebney said. “I think Hector Lombard deserves this fight.”

Unfortunately the situation continued to change and Filho is not going to be able to make the fight.  UFC veteran Jay Silva steps in to his place and will take on Lombard, the current Bellator middleweight champion.

Silva is 5-3 in his career and is on a two fight losing streak that saw him bounced from the UFC.  It's certainly not the test for Lombard that Filho would have been but at least Hector will be staying busy.