The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed Brazilian fighter Iliarde Santos (27-6-1, 1NC) following an injury to bantamweight Marcos Vinicius (20-4-1).
Santos will face fellow countryman Yuri Alcantara (27-4) next month at the upcoming UFC on FX 8 event.
News of the change surfaced last week via Tatame.com who confirmed the news with Santos.
UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Rockhold (aka UFC on FX 8) is expected to take place on May 18, 2013 at the Arena Jaraguá in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil.
The change has yet to be made on the UFC’s official event page which has the match old match slotted on the Fuel TV prelim card.
Santos has earned six wins in-a-row following a “No Contest” results back in October 2011. The newcomer had his last fight in November of last year, earning a unanimous decision. In his interview with Tatame, Santos had been training for an upcoming title match with a local promotion when the UFC came calling. He’s earned twelve (T)KO and six submission stoppages, as well as nine decision victories.
Alcantara is looking for his first win in three matches, seeing his bantamweight Octagon debut end in his last fight end in a “No Contest.” Alcantara fought Pedro Nobre last January at UFC on FX 7 and a first round submission finish was changed to a “NC” after it was determined that he had landed illegal shots to the back of Nobre’s head prior to the sub. Alcantara’s last victory took place in January 2012 with a decision over Michihiro Omigawa.