With Brazilian slugger Thiago Silva forced to bow out of UFC 117 due to injury, the UFC turned to promotion newcomer Todd Brown (15-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) to fill the gap.
Today, UFC officials made the switch official.
As MMAjunkie.com reported earlier this week, Brown now faces Tim Boetsch (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) on the UFC 117 preliminary card.
UFC 117 takes place Aug. 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., and features a headliner between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen. Boetsch vs. Silva is slated for the night's un-aired preliminary card.
According to most databases, Brown owns an 11-1 record. However, Pavia said some of the fighter's smaller bouts are in the process of being added and that Brown will enter the UFC with a 15-1 mark. The Indianapolis-based fighter, who's ended nearly all his fights via submission or knockout, suffered his only career loss in 2007, when he dropped a decision to Josh Hendricks, who made his UFC debut just months later.
Boetsch, meanwhile, returns to the UFC after a 2-2 run in the promotion. The Midwesterner wowed audiences in his octagon debut when he tossed David Heath to the mat en route to a TKO win at UFC 81. He then dropped a TKO to Matt Hamill before rebounding with a knockout of Michael Patt. However, after a unanimous-decision loss to Jason Brilz, the promotion gave him his walking papers. Many fans felt the pink slip was harsh and lobbied for his return. He recently got it after a 3-0 run in outside promotions.
With the contest official, UFC 117 is again complete with 11 bouts. The night's official schedule includes:
MAIN CARD
* Champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (for middleweight title)
* Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
* Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida
* Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes
* Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson
PRELIMINARY CARD
* Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
* Phil Davis vs. Rodney Wallace
* Tim Boetsch vs. Todd Brown
* Charlie Brenneman vs. Johny Hendricks
* Christian Morecraft vs. Stefan Struve
* Dennis Hallman vs. Ben Saunders
Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/20110/tim-boe ... -bouts.mma