Veteran lightweight Karen Darabedyan (8-1) will make his promotion debut against former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough (17-5) at WEC 44 after an undisclosed injury has forced Anthony Pettis (7-0) off the Nov. 18 fight card, according to MMAweekly.com.

After coughing up the 155-pound title to Jamie Varner at WEC 32, "Razor" Rob is 2-1, most recently squeaking out a split-decision victory over Marcus Hicks at WEC 39, which proved a successful comeback after going the distance in a losing effort against Donald Cerrone.

McCullough was "Cowboy’s" first victory that went all three rounds.

Karen Darabedyan’s last bout was a victory at Shark Fights 6 back in September. His only loss was two years ago when he came up short on the judges’ scorecards to Koji Oishi at PFP: "Ring of Fire" in 2007.

This will mark Darabedyan’s WEC debut, and McCullough is quite the welcome into the promotion.

WEC 44 from "The Pearl" at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, features a featherweight championship bout between heavy-handed Mike Thomas Brown and the dynamic challenger Jose Aldo.

For more on WEC 44 click here.