Eddie Wineland (14-6-1) reportedly injured his elbow while training and is forced to withdraw from his unaired preliminary bout with Frank Gomez at WEC 41. Wineland, once WEC bantamweight champion, returns to the WEC following a 2-year absence from the promotion and was unsuccessful as he lost to Rani Yahya at WEC 40. Prior to this loss, Wineland put together a two fight win streak with victories over Jason Tabor and Wade Choate.

Wineland discusses the injury:

"It's a recurring injury, Wineland told nwi.com. "This time, it's been a little more severe than normal. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'm pretty sure it's some kind of tendonitis. It gets to the point where I can't even pick up a bottle to take a drink. If I relax it and leave it alone for a little while, it'll go away. But as soon as I start activity again, it starts to flare up. I wouldn't say this is a setback, it's more or less a disappointment. I was really looking forward to getting back in there and getting another win under my belt. But I can't go in there half-ready and take a chance at getting beat and hurt -- and there's more of a chance (at getting hurt) if I'm not ready."

Wineland called Sean Shelby [WEC matchmaker] to tell him the bad news Wednesday morning. No response has come out of Frank Gomez's camp.

Wineland remains unsure as to when he can get back to training and fighting again.

"It's hard to say -- how long does tendinitis take to heal? It could be a week, it could be three months," Wineland said. "I'm hoping it's not very long. I've been trying to do as little as possible with my elbow, trying to get it to heal."

WEC 41 is set for June 7 Sacramento, California and will broadcast live on VERSUS. WEC 41's headliner is a featherweight title rematch between former champ Urijah Faber and Mike Brown.