A welterweight bout scheduled for UFC 138 has seen a change as British fighter John ‘The Hitman’ Hathaway (15-1) was forced out of his fight with Matt ‘The Immortal’ Brown (12-10) due to an undisclosed injury.
The change in fact sees ‘The Polish Pistola’ Seth Baczynski (14-6) stepping in as Hathaway’s replacement, and has the fight moving from the UK to California as part of the UFC 139 card.
Brown originally posted the notice on Twitter (@IamTheImmortal) on Monday night.
– meant nov 5th fight with hathaway is off. he got hurt. ill keep u all updated as i learn what they have in store for me!
While shortly afterwords, UFC officials quickly followed that notice naming Baczynski as the replacement and changing the match to UFC 139 vice 138.
Brown was actually a replacement for another fighter, Pascal Krauss, who pulled out last August due to a shoulder injury. UFC 138 is scheduled to take place on November 5 at the LG Arena in Birmingham, England.
Brown and Baczynski will now have more time to prepare for each other as UFC 139 is scheduled to take place on November 19 in San Jose, California.
Brown ended a three fight losing streak last June by earning a unanimous decision over John Howard at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry. The three previous defeats came at the hands of Brian Foster at UFC 123, Chris Lytle at UFC 116, and Ricardo Almeida at UFC 111.
Baczynski (Pictured) recently returned to the UFC last month by defeating Clay Harvison at UFN 25 in New Orleans by second round submission victory. ‘The Polish Pistola’ had been a part of season eleven of “TUF” having earned his way into the house after a fighter was injured and forced off the show. Baczynski fought Brad Tavares at the June 2010 finale, losing a close decision and was subsequently released by the UFC. He earned two wins outside the Octagon, both by (T)KO to earn a second shot with the UFC.