The injury bug strikes again, and UFC Fight Night 37 has a new co-main event.
Melvin Guillard’s original opponent, TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson, has suffered a knee injury and was forced out of the fight, according to UFC officials Wednesday. Michael Johnson, who scored a devastating knockout over Gleison Tibau less than a month ago, has agreed to step in and face “The Young Assassin” on March 8 in London, England.
Johnson (14-8) ended 2013 with back-to-back wins over Tibau and Joe Lauzon, bouncing back from consecutive losses to Myles Jury and Reza Madadi. A runner-up of TUF 12, “The Menace” enters the cage with a UFC record of 6-4.
Guillard (31-12-2, 1 no-contest) stopped Pearson in the first round of his last fight inside the Octagon, but wasn’t awarded a TKO victory after the referee considered he won due to an illegal knee. Prior to that bout, Guillard earned a “Knockout of the Night” bonus in his second-round victory over Mac Danzig.
UFC Fight Night 37 takes place at the O2 Arena in London and will be headlined by a light heavyweight match-up featuring Alexander Gustafsson and Jimi Manuwa. The complete fight card, which airs in the U.S. exclusively on UFC Fight Pass, is the following:
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa
Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard
Cyrille Diabate vs. Ilir Latifi
Brad Pickett vs. Ian McCall
Igor Araujo vs. Danny Mitchell
Gunnar Nelson vs. Omari Akhmedov
Brad Scott vs. Cláudio Henrique da Silva
Luke Barnatt vs. Mats Nilsson
Louis Gaudinot vs. Phil Harris
Davey Grant vs. Roland Delorme