MMAJunkie
Manny Gamburyan's injury woes continue, and he has been forced out of May's UFC on FX 8 event. In his place steps Nik Lentz (23-5-2 MMA, 7-2-1), who now meets Brazilian Hacran Dias (21-1-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC).
UFC officials today announced the switch.
UFC on FX 8 takes place May 18 at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul. The event's main card airs on FX following prelims on FUEL TV and Facebook. The main event is a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort (22-10 MMA, 11-6 UFC) and final Strikeforce 185-pound champion Luke Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
Lentz returns to work after a decision win over Diego Nunes at this past January's UFC on FX 7 event, which also took place in Brazil. "The Carny" is 2-0 at featherweight since dropping down from 155 pounds.
Meanwhile, Dias makes his first appearance since winning a unanimous decision over Yuri Alcantara in June 2012. "Barnabe" was expected to face top 145-pounder Chad Mendes this past December before injury forced Dias out of the fight and off the card.
Gamburyan fought most recently at this past August's UFC on FOX 4 event, where he earned a decision win over Michihiro Omigawa. Gamburyan was also supposed to fight Mendes in a scheduled February fight at UFC 157, but "The Anvil" was also injured in that camp and forced to withdraw from the card.
A timetable for Gamburyan's return wasn't immediately available.
With the change, the UFC on FX 8 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (FX, 9 p.m. ET)
Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
Constantinos Philippou vs. Ronaldo Souza
C.B. Dollaway vs. Cezar Ferreira
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham
PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV, 6 p.m. ET)
Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz
Mike Rio vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Yuri Alcantara vs. Marcos Vinícius
Lance Benoist vs. Paulo Thiago
Azamat Gashimov vs. John Lineker
Roger Hollet vs. Fabio Maldonado
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 4:30 p.m. ET)
John Cholish vs. Gleison Tibau
Chris Cariaso vs. Jussier Formiga
Jeremy Larsen vs. Lucas Martins
For the latest on
UFC on FX 8
, stay tuned to the
UFC Rumors
section of the site.
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