Mark Hunt has been forced to pull out of his UFC 146 fight against Stefan Struve due to a knee injury, MMA Fighting has learned from sources close to the fight. As a result, Struve will now face Lavar Johnson on less than two week’s notice.
Johnson last fought just 12 days ago at UFC on FOX 3. He knocked out Pat Barry in the first round of their main card fight.
Hunt, a winner in his last three fights, has enjoyed a career renaissance in the UFC, so much so that there was a strong online movement to get him to replace Alistair Overeem against Junior dos Santos in the UFC 146 main event. As fate would have it, neither Overeem or Hunt will end up fighting on the card after all.
Both Struve and Johnson enter the fighting riding two-fight winnings streaks.
UFC 146, headlined by dos Santos vs. Frank Mir, airs live on pay-per-view on May 26.
UPDATE: UFC has confirmed the news.