Bryan Caraway injured, out of UFC Phoenix main card bout vs. Jimmie Rivera

UFC bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway is out of his Sunday, January 15th matchup vs. Jimmie Rivera. MMAjunkie confirmed the news on Wednesday, and Fox Sports later revealed that it was an undisclosed injury that forced Caraway off the UFC Phoenix main card.

Caraway (21-7) has won 4 of his last 5 fights, including back-to-back decision wins over Eddie Wineland and Aljamain Sterling. The only loss he’s suffered during this three-year stretch is to Raphael Assuncao. Rivera (20-1) has won his last 19 fights, with 4 of them coming under the UFC banner. The 27-year-old is coming off a unanimous decision win over Urijah Faber at UFC 203. As of this week’s UFC rankings, Caraway is the #5 men’s bantamweight, whereas Rivera is right behind him at #6.

UFC officials are in search of a replacement opponent, and with the card just under two weeks out, they may have to look outside of the UFC to find someone for Rivera to fight. The only other bantamweight bout on the UFC Phoenix card is between Augusto Mendes and Frankie Saenz.

UFC Fight Night 103 is headlined by a featherweight clash between Yair Rodriguez and B.J. Penn. The event’s preliminary card airs live on FS1 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, with action continuing on FS1 with the two-hour main card, which starts at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT.