John Howard asked, and John Howard received.
Howard (20-8) will replace Josh Samman against Uriah Hall (7-3) at UFC on FOX Sports 1 on Aug. 17 in his hometown of Boston, BostonHerald.com first reported. Samman pulled out of the fight due to an injury.
“Doomsday” had been campaigning for months for a slot on the UFC’s return to “Beantown.” He even said he would fight on the card for free recently.
He was cut from the promotion in June 2011 after losing his third straight fight. He went 4-3 inside the Octagon from 2009-2011, however, since then the 30-year-old has gone 6-1 on the local circuit. This fight will mark his first time fighting as a middleweight in the UFC.
Hall will look to pick up his first official UFC win next month after losing in the TUF Finale to Kelvin Gastelum in April. Samman originally replaced Nick Ring in this fight after Ring had a social security number issue.
The UFC’s debut on FOX Sports 1 will be headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio Rua. The event will take place at the TD Garden.