An injury to Derek Anderson has forced him off Bellator 148’s main card and Patricky Freire will step in to face Ryan Couture later this month.

Just five days after the matchup was announced, Anderson (13-2 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) suffered an injury in training and will be unable to meet Couture (10-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) in the lightweight matchup. After losing to Anderson at Bellator 147 in December, Freire (14-7 MMA, 7-6 BMMA) will serve as an injury replacement on less than three weeks’ notice.

MMAjunkie today confirmed the switch with Bellator officials.

Bellator 148 takes place Jan. 29 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

Couture will enter the contest with the momentum of a four-fight winning streak, including two straight since he joined Bellator in September 2014. He’s earned all of those victories by submission with the help of his trademark technique, the rear-naked choke.

Prior to the start of his current winning streak, Couture dropped back-to-back fights under the UFC banner. The son of UFC Hall of Famer and former champion Randy Couture then was released from the organization and proceeded to pick up a pair of wins on the regional scene before signing with Bellator.

Looking to halt Couture’s momentum will be “Pitbull,” who is coming off a somewhat controversial split-decision loss to Anderson at Bellator 147. Freire has alternated between wins and losses over his past four Bellator appearances and will look to start a new winning streak at Couture’s expense.

With the change, the Bellator 148 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET)

Paul Daley vs. Andy Uhrich

Paul Bradley vs. Chris Honeycutt

Raphael Butler vs. Tony Johnson

Ryan Couture vs. Patricky Freire

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 8 p.m. ET)

Ilima MacFarlane vs. Amber Tackett

Anthony Avila vs. John Reedy

Javy Ayala vs. Carl Seumanutafa

Art Arciniega vs. Justin Smitley

Mason Fowler vs. Idris Wasi

Thomas Diagne vs. Mark Dickman

Paul Ruiz vs. Josh San Diego

For more on Bellator 148, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.