When Brian Ebersole defeated T.J. Waldburger at June’s UFC on FX 3 show, it was his fourth straight win in the octagon. Always the unpredictable one, Ebersole surprised many by saying despite that success, he was going to consider a shift downward from welterweight to lightweight.
The move will wait, but instead he’ll take another surprising path, putting his streak on the line in a short-notice bout as a replacement. Ebersole has agreed to step in and face James Head at UFC 149, the promotion confirmed.
Ebsersole is replacing Claude Patrick, who suffered an undisclosed injury in training and was forced out of the event.
It’s just another injury that has racked the event, including others to featherweight champ and main eventer Jose Aldo as well as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Thiago Silva and others.
Ebersole comes in with a record of 50-14-1 and 1 no contest, and is fresh off the aforementioned win over Waldburger, which was a hard-fought unanimous decision.
Head, by contrast, is a relative MMA neophyte, with an 8-2 record. He recently got his first octagon win by defeating Papy Abedi by rear naked choke in the first round of their UFC on FUEL 2 match.