Manny Gamburyan has been removed from a second straight scheduled bout, as an injury has forced him out of a UFC on FX 8 matchup with Hacran Dias.
Having also been bounced from a scrap with former featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes, Gamburyan has not appeared since besting Michihiro Omigawa by decision in August. That win brought an end to a three-fight losing streak for the TUF runner-up, who is looking to return to title contention.
Nik Lentz will be replacing Gamburyan at UFC on FX 8. Having recently moved to the division, Lentz is undefeated in two fights at 145 pounds.
Most recently, Lentz utilized his wrestling to dominate Diego Nunes on the ground. An impressive win over the highly ranked Brazilian has made Lentz a borderline featherweight contender, so a win over the surging Dias could push “The Carny” further up the 145-pound rankings.
Dias has only won once inside the Octagon, but he owns an extremely impressive 21-1-1 record and stunned a tough opponent in Yuri Alcantara when making his UFC debut in June.
UFC on FX 8 will be held in Jaragua, Brazil on May 18. Following Gamburyan’s removal from the event, this is how the entire fight card now stacks up:
Main Card (FX at 9 p.m. ET)
- Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
- Costa Philippou vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham
- Cezar Ferreira vs. C.B. Dollaway
Preliminary Card (Fuel TV at 6 p.m. ET)
- Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz
- Francisco Trinaldo vs. Mike Rio
- Gleison Tibau vs. John Cholish
- Paulo Thiago vs. Lance Benoist
- Marcos Vinicius vs. Yuri Alcantara
- Fabio Maldonado vs. Roger Hollett
Preliminary Card (Facebook at 4:30 p.m. ET)
- John Lineker vs. Azamat Gashimov
- Jussier Formiga vs. Chris Cariaso
- Lucas Martins vs. Jeremy Larsen
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