An injured sternum has forced UFC welterweight Duane “Bang” Ludwig out of an upcoming bout with “TUF 7″ winner Amir Sadollah (4-2) at UFC Fight Night 24 (aka UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis). Tapped as his replacement will be another “TUF” winner, James Wilks (7-4) who won season 7 of the reality series.
The announcement was made on UFC.com earlier today. UFC President Dana White noted, “Bang Ludwig is out with an injured sternum but James Wilks has verbally agreed to step up against Amir Sadollah for UFC Fight Night March 26. TUF 7 winner VS TUF 9 winner. Should be fun.”
Sadollah is coming off a win over Peter Sobotta at UFC 122 in his last fight, earning a unanimous decision over the German last November. The victory helped him bounce back from a unanimous decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 114. The “TUF” winner has gone to decision in his last four bouts going 3-1 in that time.
Wilks enters the bout on a loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Claude Patrick at UFC 120 in October. The Brit had been tapped to meet Rory MacDonald at UFC 129 at the end of April but was replaced by Nate Diaz. Wilks is 1-2 in his last three fights and is 2-2 in the UFC. Before the loss to Patrick, he earned a unanimous decision over Peter Sobotta at UFC 115 and a TKO loss to Matt Brown at UFC 105.
UFC Fight Night 24 takes place on March 26 at the Key Arena in the promotions first visit to Seattle, Washington.