You know the drill by now. The UFC is holding a stacked PPV soon, so that means an injury must affect it. Brazilian welterweight prospect Erick Silva is out with an undisclosed injury, and he will not fight Jay Hieron at UFC 156 this February. Instead, Tyron Woodley will make his UFC debut on a month’s notice to face Hieron.
Silva is one of the most promising talents at 170 lbs, but he lost his last fight against Jon Fitch at UFC 153 in what turned out to be the FOTN. Otherwise he has beaten Charlie Brenneman and Luis Ramos, but did suffer a DQ loss in what was an otherwise lopsided and dominant 30 second beating of Carlo Prater.
Woodley was one of Strikeforce’s top welterweights known for his grinding wrestling style and top-notch abilities to defend the always dangerous Paul Daley omoplata. He fought former UFC middleweight contender Nate Marquardt for the vacant SF welterweight title, and in an entertaining fight Woodley was knocked out in the 4th round after some hard standing elbows by Marquardt. That remains his only pro loss and now he’s making his UFC debut a little quicker than anticipated.
UFC 156 takes place in Las Vegas on Super Bowl weekend (February 2nd) and features a main event between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar for Jose’s featherweight title. It is unknown at this point whether Hieron vs. Woodley will be on the main card, but I seriously doubt it makes it there given the depth of this card.