Michael Johnson
The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced a replacement for injured fighter Thiago Tavares for the upcoming UFC on FOX 3 event this May. Stepping in for the Brazilian will be TUF 12 finalist Michael Johnson (10-6) who now faces Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson (13-3) at the New Jersey event.
The announcement was made official at UFC.com on Thursday.
UFC on FOX 3 is set for May 5, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and is headlined by a lightweight bout between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller.
This is Ferguson’s third lightweight opponent in two months after having been originally scheduled to face Dennis Hallman, then Tavares and now Johnson. Hallman was also waylayed by an injury.
Ferguson is 3-0 in the Octagon and is riding a six-fight win streak. His last match went down in December at the TUF 14 Finale, where ‘El Cucuy’ earned a decision over Yves Edwards in Las Vegas. Before that, he stopped Aaron Riley by TKO in Ferguson’s lightweight Octagon debut, and won The Ultimate Fighter 13 as a welterweight in June of last year by stopping Ramsey Nijem.
Johnson is 2-2 so far in the UFC, having appeared at the last FOX show in January where he earned a decision victory against Shane Roller at the Chicago show. It allowed the TUF 13 Finalist to bounce back from a loss, a heel hook submission to Paul Sass at UFC on Versus 6 from last October. Before hat Johnson stopped Eddie Faaloloto at UFC on Versus 4 and lost to Jonathan Brookins at the TUF 12 finale.