Late Tuesday evening, Ultimate Fighting Championship officials announced the replacement for an injured Mac Danzig, who was forced to pull out of his UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin bout with Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone (14-3). Stepping in on less than a months notice will be Vagner Rocha (6-1) who will make his promotional debut at the Canadian event.
Mac Danzig has had to pull out of UFC 131 with an injury, Dana White confirmed today. Making his UFC debut on short notice, 6-1 BJJ black belt Vagner Rocha has verbally agreed to replace Danzig in the June 4 bout against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin is set to take place on June 11 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The event has already seen it’s share of changes with the loss, or removal of Brock Lesnar, Anthony Perosh, Court McGee, Rani Yahya, and Rob Broughton from the card.
Rocha has fought for both Bellator and Strikeforce in the past. He is 1-1 in his last two bouts, earning a first round submission earlier this month at a local event in Florida. The loss, the first of his career, was by unanimous decision against Bret Bergmark at last years Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum event.
Cerrone has won three straight, making his UFC debut last February against Paul Kelly, earning a submission win. The former WEC lightweight contender earned wins over Chris Horodecki at WEC 53 and Jamie Varner at WEC 51 in the other two victories. The loss was a title fight against former WEC champ Ben Henderson at WEC 48, with “Smooth” submitting “The Cowboy” in the first round of that fight.