When news broke that Anthony “Rumble” Johnson had to pull out of his upcoming fight with John Howard on the March 21st UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones card on Versus, many assumed that the UFC would bump one of the prelim fights up to the main card, while Howard would be relegated to the prelims to take on newcomer Daniel Roberts. Howard vs. Roberts has indeed been moved down to the prelims with the UFC officially confirming the fight’s existence, but none of the other prelims have been moved up to the televised card, which currently stands at three fights.
Earlier rumors indicated that Spencer Fisher vs. Duane Ludwig was likely to be promoted, but MMA Junkie is reporting that instead, the UFC will insert a newly-booked fight the main card into the fourth spot on the main card, while the prelims will stay at a record-tying eight fights (UFC 103 also had eight preliminary fights). There aren’t any rumors currently floating around about possible participants in the new main card fight, but with future cards rapidly filling, it will be interesting to see what the UFC puts together.
The UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones card now includes:
– Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera
– Junios Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
– Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo
– TBA vs. TBA– James Irvin vs. Alessio Sakara
– Spencer Fisher vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig
– Shannon Gugerty vs. Clay Guida
– Eliot Marshall vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
– John Howard vs. Daniel Roberts
– Chase Gormley vs. Brendan Schaub
– Rob Kimmons vs. Mike Pierce
– Jason Brilz vs. Eric Schafer