Team England’s hopes of making it to the M-1 Challenge finals during its first season in the competition was dealt a severe blow on Wednesday when light heavyweight Tom Blackledge informed team officials that he would be unable to compete as scheduled during the Sept. 26 M-1 Challenge semifinals.
The semifinals, which are scheduled to be held in Russia, will feature USA West vs. USA East and Russia Legion vs. Team England in two best-of-five challenge matchups with the winners advancing to the finals, which will be held later this fall.
According to Team England sources, Blackledge will be unable to compete due to what is believed to be a neck injury. A similar injury prevented Blackledge from competing during Team England’s second regular season matchup this past June in Kansas City. Without Blackledge and with Danny Giblin inserted as his replacement, the Brits fell to France by a 1-4 score after having dominated Team Japan in its season opener by a 4-1 score in April.
Blackledge trains out of the Wolfslair Academy along with the likes of UFC middleweight Michael Bisping, UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo, and UFC lightweight Paul Kelly. Additionally, Blackledge will appear on the upcoming tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter as an assistant coach to friend and training partner Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Blackledge, 9-6 overall, according to Sherdog, is 2-0 in M-1 Challenge play this season. He submitted Team Japan’s Tatsuya Mizuno with a rear naked choke in round 1 in April and knocked out Spain’s Enoc Solbes with a head kick upon his return on Aug. 15 in Holland.
A replacement for Blackledge had not been immediately named.
