UFC 138 has lost a main-card bout.
Lightweight Paul Taylor (11-6-1 MMA, 4-5 UFC) suffered whiplash in a recent car accident and has been forced out of his main-card bout with Anthony Njokuani (14-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC), MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed with event sources.
A light-heavyweight bout between Cyrille Diabate (17-7-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Anthony Perosh (11-6 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has taken its spot on the main card.
Njokuani will be rebooked for a later event.
UFC 138 takes place Saturday at the 16,000-seat LG Arena at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. The night's main card airs on Spike TV (via same-day delay), and the prelims stream live on Facebook.
Taylor was slated to fight in his home country for the seventh time under the UFC banner. He recently ended a skid (2-5) with a second-round knockout of Gabe Ruediger at UFC 126. The former welterweight also scratched from UFC on Versus 5 due to a foot injury.
The latest UFC 138 card now includes:
MAIN CARD (Spike TV)
Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz
Renan Barao vs. Brad Pickett
Papy Abedi vs. Thiago Alves
Terry Etim vs. Edward Faaloloto
Cyrille Diabate vs. Anthony Perosh
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)
Justin Edwards vs. John Maguire
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Jason Young
Rob Broughton vs. Philip De Fries
Chris Cope vs. Che Mills
Chris Cariaso vs. Vaughan Lee
Source: UFC 138 loses Taylor-Njokuani; Diabate-Perosh promoted to main card