An undisclosed injury to UFC middleweight Maiquel Falcao has forced him off the upcoming UFC on Versus 3 (aka UFC LIVE: Sanchez vs. Kampmann) event. Stepping in will be Rafael “Sapo” Natal (12-3-1) who now takes on Italian fighter Alessio Sakara (15-7, 1NC).
MMAWeekly.com confirmed the replacement on Friday with sources close to the fight noting that the match would stay on the televised portion of the card.
Natal is 0-1-1 after two UFC appearances having fought Canaidan Jesse Bongfeldt to a majority draw at last months UFC 124 event in Montreal. His UFC debut took place in September against Rich Attonito at UFN 22, losing a unanimous decision at the Austin, Texas event. The Brazilian fighter has won seven times by submission, three by knockout, and twice by decision over his career.
Sakara has won three straight fights and is 4-1 in his last five. It will be almost a year since the Italian appeared in the octagon, appearing at the first Versus event, UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones, against James Irivin winning a first round victory by TKO. The fighter had a rough 2010 pulling out of three fights. He had been scheduled to meet Nate Marquardt at UFC 116 but pulled out after the death of his father. Then Sakara was to have fought at UFC 118 but an injured forced him off the card. Then he was rescheduled to meet Jorge Rivera at UFC 122 and ended up very sick, experiencing flu-like symptoms the day off the match, causing the fight to be canceled.
UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann will take place on March 3rd at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky and the main card will air live on the Versus Network.