Gabriel Gonzaga
It seems the entire main card for this May’s upcoming UFC 146 event has been reshuffled, well almost.
On Monday, UFC president Dana White made the announcement that Gabriel Gonzaga (13-6) would move up to face Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (16-7) at the upcoming Memorial Day weekend event.
Gonzaga replaces Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, who moved up to meet former champ Cain Velasquez in the co-main event, after Velasquez’ original opponent Frank Mir was tagged as a replacement for Alistair Overeem versus the current UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos in the main event of UFC 146.
This now leaves Gonzaga’s original opponent, undefeated Strikeforce fighter Shane del Rosario (11-0), without an opponent for the event. Expect some sort of announcement soon.
The only combatants on the heavyweight exclusive main card who have not swapped adversaries are opponents Mark Hunt and Stefan Struve.
White announced the change via Twitter (@danawhite) Monday evening, simply messaging “Roy Nelson vs Gabe Gonzaga”.
UFC 146 is expected to take place on May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gonzaga returned to the UFC after semi-retirement, earning a win at UFC 142 after he was called in as a replacement for Rob Broughton at the Brazil event. It was Gonzaga’s second straight victory.
Nelson is 1-1 in his last two matches, having lost a one-sided striking match against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 143 last February in the “Fight of the Night” bout. The victory in that stretch came last October, a third round TKO finish of Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic.