Bryan Caraway was forced out of his Bantamweight fight against rising contender Jimmie Rivera — which was set to go down at UFC Fight Night 103 on Jan 15, 2017 on Phoenix, Arizona -- with an unfortunate injury.
According to Rivera, however, he is not totally convinced Bryan is injured.
"I'm not surprised in a way, this is the third or fourth time I've tried to fight Caraway," Rivera told SiriusXM via Flo Combat. "I shouldn't be surprised that it happened, but you just keep training like you have a fight and just kinda wait and see what happens and see what the UFC or Sean Shelby are going to do."
"He got hurt this time or he's faking injury," Rivera said. "The times before that he just simply didn't want to fight me. Take for instance the Faber fight, it was supposed to be Caraway and I but he said no to it and Faber stepped in. That's how it happened."
While Bryan won’t say a majority of fighters fake injures, he is convinced Caraway has a habit of doing that.
"Probably [fighters' fake injuries], at least he does, I think so," Rivera said. "He [Caraway] picks and chooses his battles and times when he wants to fight. I know I've seen it in the past. It is what it is, right now there is nothing really I can do. I just have to wait and see what happens."
Of course, "Kid Lightning" wasn’t too impressed with those allegations, taking to Twitter to shut them down quick. Rivera was briefly linked to face late replacement Marlon Vera, however, Jimmie changed his mind, saying he didn’t want to look like a bully, ultimately calling the fight off.
UFC Fight Night 103 will feature the return of B.J. Penn, who will face rising contender Yair Rodriguez in the headlining bout, which is set to air on FOX Sports 1.
For more on the event click here.