Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves Out of UFC 149 Appearances against Rua, Bahadurzada

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Both Thiago Silva and Thiago Alves have reportedly suffered injuries and will be unable to compete as expected at UFC 149.

Alves today tweeted that he will undergo surgery on Tuesday, though the nature of his injury is currently unclear. UFC President Dana White revealed Silva’s withdrawal to MMAJunkie.com on Friday, stating that he hoped to pair Silva’s opponent, Mauricio Rua, with newly acquired Brazilian talent Glover Teixeira. However, White was quoted as saying that Rua’s camp turned that fight down.

The promotion must also now find a replacement for Alves to face Siyar Bahadurzada, who had initially stepped in as an injury replacement for Yoshihiro Akiyama. MMAWeekly.com first reported Alves’ withdrawal, though no official announcement has come from the UFC regarding a potential replacement.

Silva, 29, recently returned from a one-year suspension on April 14, falling to Alexander Gustafsson in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 2. The hard-hitting Brazilian was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission following his 2011 victory over Brandon Vera after it was discovered that Silva had used an adulterant to hide a banned substance in his urine. As that victory was changed to a no contest, Silva’s last official win on record stands as a 2009 knockout over Keith Jardine at UFC 102.

After failing in his attempt to capture the UFC welterweight crown from Georges St. Pierre in 2009, Alves has lost three of his last five outings, most recently submitting to a last-minute Martin Kampmann guillotine choke at UFC on FX 2 after controlling the majority of their March 3 headliner. Known for his technical and powerful striking, “Pitbull” owns notable victories over Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan and Chris Lytle, among others.