Charlie Brenneman beat Jason High in his UFC debut back in March 2010, and now “The Spaniard” has replaced High to get back into the UFC.
The UFC has re-signed Brenneman to fight Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night 35 on Jan. 15 after High pulled out of the fight due to appendicitis. Brenneman confirmed the news with MMAFighting.com after MMAJunkie.com first reported it on Thursday.
According to his manager Mike Kogan, High is currently at Broward Health North hospital in Pompano Beach, Fla. He was scheduled to undergo surgery on Wednesday, but since his appendix ruptured the doctors said they couldn’t operate on him until the infection drained and the swelling went down. Kogan said the doctors hope to perform the surgery on Thursday. After surgery, High, who Tweeted this was the first time in his 22-fight career that he has had to pull out of a bout, will be sidelined for approximately 30 days.
Brenneman, who defeated High via unanimous decision at UFN 21 almost four years ago, was released from the organization in Sept. 2011 after a first-round TKO loss to Kyle Noke at UFC 152. He went 4-4 inside the Octagon. Since then, the 32-year-old AMA Fight Club member has gone 4-0 as a lightweight, submitted three of his four opponents, and most recently captured the Cage Fury Fighting Championships 155-pound belt. This fight will mark Brenneman’s first as a lightweight in the UFC.
The 24-year-old Dariush (6-0), who trains out of the Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas, will be making his Octagon debut. He originally replaced Adlan Amagov, who withdrew from the event due to personal reasons.
UFN 35, headlined by Luke Rockhold vs. Costas Philippou, will take place at Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., and it will air live on FOX Sports 1.