Brazilian born fighter Vagner Rocha (7-2) was supposed to make his featherweight debut against Mike Brown (25-6) next month at the UFC on FX 1 event, but an injury to Brown has forced the former WEC champ out of the bout.
UFC officials announced Brown’s withdrawal on Thursday, offering little on the type or extent of his injury. With just under a month to go the promotion is searching for a new opponent for Rocha.
UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller is scheduled to take place on January 20, 2012 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennesse.
Brown (pictured) earned his first win in the Octagon in his last fight, defeating Nam Phan by unanimous decision at UFC 133. It was Brown’s third attempt at a victory having lost matches against Rani Yahya at Fight for the Troops 2 and to Diego Nunes at UFC 125. Both of those fights took place in January 2011, with Brown taking the fight with Yahya on short notice after replacing an injured Chan Sung Jung.
Rocha drops down to 145 lbs after two bouts in the Octagon as a lightweight. His last fight was a second round submission win at UFN 25 against Cody McKenzie, while losing his promotional debut to Donald Cerrone at UFC 131 in June. The bout versus Cerrone came on short notice after Rocha stepped in for an injured Mac Danzig, Rocha has also fought for Strikeforce once and Bellator twice in his career.