Less than a month out from UFC 146 on May 26th a couple of injuries has forced yet more changes to the fight card which has already experienced considerable upheaval in recent weeks.
An undisclosed injury has forced Gabriel Gonzaga off the card, and that means Roy Nelson will now face Dave Herman.
It’s unfortunate as Gonzaga Vs Nelson looked like a good match-up, but Herman is a decent replacement and like Nelson is looking rebound after a loss, in his case a second round TKO defeat against Stefan Struve back in February.
The change ensures that the UFC’s plans to hold an all-heavyweight main card remain intact, but if there’s any other last minute call-offs you’d have to imagine it would seriously test their ability to continue to do so.
Meanwhile, another tasty encounter on the same card featuring Edson Barboza Vs Evan Dunham has also been scrapped after Dunham suffered an injury.
Interestingly, former WEC champion Jamie Varner has now been brought in as his replacement.
Varner missed out on a chance to join the UFC when the WEC folded into the promotion at the beginning of last year following a disappointing run of defeats after returning to action following a long injury absence.
After losing another fight outside of the UFC Varner started toying with the idea of retiring at the relatively young age of just 27, but in the end he decided to continue on and has since racked up two wins in a row and now gets the chance to return to the UFC where he previously went 1-1 during a brief spell in 2006-2007.
He faces a tough test here though, meeting one of the lightweight division’s rising stars in Barboza who’s 4-0 in the UFC so far and a perfect 10-0 overall for his MMA career.
