Dave “Pee Wee” Herman (16-2) has been replaced by Devin Cole (14-7-1) in a fight against Aaron Rosa at the upcoming Shark Fights 13 event on Sept. 11.
The Shark Fights promotion was left with little choice but to replace Herman due to the fighters pending lawsuit against Bellator Fighting Championships.
Sherdog.com broke the news on Monday.
Herman, 25, is suing Bellator for allegedly breaching a six-fight, 30-month contract he signed into with the promotion on October 28, 2008. Herman is also claiming tortuous interference on the part of Bellator for a handful of fight assignments — including a purported four-fight contract offer from Strikeforce — he’s tried to procure since January.
Bellator is counter-suing the Nashville, Tenn., fighter for alleged breach of contract as well, and recently added Shark Fights as a third party to the suit for alleged tortuous interference in what it believes is an exclusive contract it has with Herman.
“We wanted the fight and we knew there would be some problems when we signed it,” said Shark Fights President Brent Medley. “At the end of the day, it looked like both sides would have had to spend money that we could put into our organizations and our upcoming events. It wouldn’t have mattered who won — the attorneys would have walked away with the money.”
Herman is coming off a disqualification loss to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou after using an illegal knee against the “African Assassin” at a Abu Dhabi FC event in May of this year.
Replacement fighter Devin Cole, takes the fight with less than two weeks before the bout. The heavyweight fighter is on a five fight win streak and is 6-0-1 in his past seven fights. The former IFL fighter has faced such opponents as Jeff Monson, Krzysztof Soszynski, Ben Rothwell, and Rafael Feijao.