Thales Leites (11-1) has stepped up to replace the injured Travis Lutter at UFC 74: "Respect" and will face UFC newcomer Ryan Jensen (11-1) in a middleweight premlinary bout, according to Dave Meltzer at WrestlingObserver.com.
Here's the snip:
"Travis Lutter is off the 8/25 UFC show in Las Vegas due to a bulging disc in his neck. Ryan Jensen's new opponent is Thales Leites."
Just a few hours ago we passed along a message from Lutter, which described that he had reinjured his neck training for the August 25 event and would have to reluctantly withdraw from the fight.
With just a few weeks to spare, it appears now that the Brazilian grappler is up for the challenge to compete on extremely short notice.
Since dropping his first bout inside the Octagon to Martin Kampmann via unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 4 Finale in November 2006, Leites has been perfect (2-0) and impressive.
He battered Pete Sell at UFC 69 in April of this year to earn a unanimous decision from all three judges scoring the bout. Then at the TUF 5 Finale little more than two months later, he submitted Floyd Sword with an arm triangle.
With the addition of Leites, UFC 74 remains a very intriguing card from top to bottom. To check out the revised fight card click here.
(Thanks to UFCmania reader "Big Ed" for the heads up.)
Get the latest gear
