Buddy Roberts
UFC middleweight Michael Kuiper (12-1) has had a second opponent fall to the wayside due to injury after replacement fighter Caio ‘Hellboy’ Magalhaes (5-1) was forced off the upcoming UFC on FX 7 card.
Stepping in will be Buddy Roberts (12-3) who coincidentally defeated Magalhaes in his Octagon debut last summer. Instead of squaring off at the FX event, the bout has been switched to the UFC on FOX 6 show.
News of the change was announced by UFC officials on Thursday afternoon.
UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson (aka UFC on FOX 6) is expected to take place on January 26, 2013 at the United Center in Chicago Illinois. The bout featuring Kuiper vs. Roberts is likely to appear on the live Facebook video prelim stream for the television event.
Magalhaes was a replacement for injured fighter Thiago Perpetuo on the UFC on FX 7 card.
Roberts is 1-1 in the UFC and had a six fight win streak sopped this past August at UFC 150. The Jackson’s MMA fighter dropped to 185-lbs for the first time, losing to Yushin Okami by second round TKO. As noted, Roberts was able to defeat Magalhaes in June at UFC on FX 3, earning a unanimous decision at the Florida show.
Kuiper has also gone 1-1 in the Octagon, picking up a TKO victory at UFC 150 by finishing Jared Hamman in Colorado. The Dutch fighter would see his undefeated streak end at eleven bouts following his Octagon debut. In Las Vegas, Kuiper would lose a decision to Rafael Natal at UFC 143.