Ricardo Lamas set to replace Rich Crunkilton at WEC 39 against Bart Palaszewski

Twelve-fight International Fight League (IFL) veteran Bart "Bartimus" Palaszewski (30-11) is making his second appearance for the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) promotion at this Sunday's WEC 39: "Brown vs. Garcia" event -- only it won't be against original opponent Richard Crunkilton.

"Cleat" blew out his knee in training and will be replaced by the undefeated Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas in his WEC debut.

Palaszewski debuted for the promotion at WEC 37: "Torres vs. Tapia" last December, snuffing out UFC veteran Alex Karalexis via second round technical knockout. During his time with the IFL he scored notable wins over guys like Steve Bruno, Ivan Menjivar, Ryan Schultz, Harris Sarmiento and others.

However, his last three fights with the organization were all losses. He was submitted in the second round by Deividas Taurosevicius at the 2007 IFL Team Championships and then outpointed in a split decision loss to Chris Horodecki at the IFL World Grand Prix Semi Finals two months later.

He also dropped a unanimous decision to current UFC fighter Jim Miller last April in New Jersey.

Lamas comes into the WEC after mixing it up at "Warriors Collide" and most recently "Ironheart Crown," where he outpointed Christopher Martin in a three round decision back in November.

The Chicago-based fighter trains out of Team Top Notch and has a solid wrestling pedigree. He'll need it to have a chance against the experience of Bartimus.

WEC 39: "Brown vs. Garcia" is a packed 11-fight card that is scheduled for the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 1. It’s the first time ever that the Zuffa-owned promotion will stage an event in the "Lone Star State" and can be seen live on the Versus Network starting at 9pm ET.