Tyron Woodley
An injury to Brazilian fighter Erick Silva (14-3) has opened up an opportunity for former Strikeforce welterweight contender Tyron Woodley (10-1) to step into in allowing ‘T-Wood’ a chance to make his Octagon debut. Woodley was named as Silva’s replacement for next month’s UFC 156 event and will now step into the cage against Jay ‘The Thoroughbred’ Hieron (23-6).
Officials announced the change Tuesday evening with this official release at UFC.com.
An injury has forced up-and-comer Erick Silva off of next month’s UFC 156 fight card. Welterweight contender Tyron Woodley (10-1), who most recently faced Nate Marquardt for the Strikeforce title in August, has verbally agreed to fight Silva’s original opponent, Vegas’ own Jay Hieron.
UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar is expected to take place on February 2, 2013 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event features a featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar.
Woodley saw his undefeated run end at ten-wins this past summer when he suffered a knockout loss in the fourth round to Nate Marquardt in a bout for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title. Previous to that Woodley had won eight straight inside the Strikeforce cage with his most recent victory coming in January of last year, a split decision over Jordan Mein.
Hieron recently returned to the UFC for a third time and has yet to pick up his first Octagon victory going 0-3 so far. The former Bellator welterweight contender lost a decision to Jake Ellenberger last October at UFC on FX 5after replacing an injured Josh Koscheck. Previous to that, Hieron picked up a technical submission win over Romario da Silva at a Legacy Fighting Championship 12 event in Texas this past July.