Paul Taylor has been forced to pull out of his UFC 138 lightweight fight against Anthony Njokuani due to an undisclosed injury suffered in a car accident on Monday, UFC officials confirmed with MMAFighting.com.
According to UFC.com, Taylor’s car was rear-ended at a red light and he suffered whiplash. The injury is not considered to be career-threatening, but it was serious enough to keep him off the card. Due to the event being just five days away, Njokuani will be kept off the card.
ESPN UK first reported Taylor’s removal from the card on Tuesday.
As a result, the Cyrille Diabate vs. Anthony Perosh light heavyweightfight has been bumped up to the main card, which will air live via tape delay in the United States on Spike TV.
The Frenchman Diabate (17-7-1) is 2-1 inside the Octagon. He most recently defeated Steve Cantwell at UFC Live on Versus 3 in March.
The Australian Perosh (11-6) is 1-3 in the UFC. He defeated Tom Blackledge at UFC 127 in February to earn his first UFC win. He was scheduled to meet Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 131, however, he pulled out of the fight due to an eye injury.
UFC 138 takes place Saturday night from LG Arena in Birmingham, England, headlined by Mark Munoz vs. Chris Leben.