Brian Ebersole pictured Monday (July 2, 2012) before his UFC 149 bout announcement (Twitter.com/ufc)
The Ultimate Fighting Championships first visit to Calgary, Alberta has seen numerous changes to it’s planned UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao event due to injuries.
On Tuesday night, officials with the promotion announced yet another injury.
This time Canadian fighter Claude Patrick is the one who has been forced out due to injury. Patrick will be replaced by recent FX event winner Brian ‘Bad Boy’ Ebersole (50-14-1, 1NC). Ebersole now has less than three weeks to prepare for Patrick’s original opponent James Head (8-2).
Both Ebersole and Head have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 149 which is expected to take place on July 21, 2012 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Ebersole (pictured via @ufc on Twitter) earned his fourth straight Octagon win on June 22, defeating TJ Waldburger via unanimous decision at the UFC on FX 4 card in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The victory was Ebersole’s eleventh straight victory since losing to former Bellator middleweight champ, and soon to debut UFC fighter, Hector Lombard. ‘Bad Boy’ fought Patrick last December in Toronto, winning a split decision over the Canadian at UFC 140.
Head won his first Octagon bout in his welterweight debut in Sweden as part of the UFC on FUEL TV 2 card by submitting Papy Abedi in the first round. Head debuted with the UFC in June 2011 at UFC 131, having been forced to tap by Nick Ring at the Vancouver, Canada event. The Oklahoma City based fighter was to have fought at UFC 138 last November but was forced out with an undisclosed injury.