The 25-year-old wrote on his Facebook account Wednesday that he recently suffered a torn MCL and sprained ACL, forcing him out of his UFC 159 fight against Siler. As a result, Kurt Holobaugh, formerly of Strikeforce, will replace him on short notice. The news was first reported on FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight.”
Following his dominant win over Nam Phan at UFC 140 in December 2011, Hettes (10-1) pulled out an UFC on FX 4 bout against Siler, scheduled for June 2012. He then lost his first professional fight to Marcus Brimage at UFC 152 in September.
Siler (21-10) recently had his three-fight winning streak snapped by Darren Elkins at UFC 154, while Holobaugh (8-1) lost his lone Strikeforce fight to Pat Healy in January. This fight will mark his UFC debut.
UFC 159, headlined by Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen for the light heavyweight belt, will take place April 27 from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.