James Irvin sustained a broken foot while training for his fight against Rashad Evans at UFC 85: "Bedlam" in London, England, on June 7, forcing the promotion once again to shuffle the deck and repair a fight card riddled with replacements.
Luiz Cane -- who was scheduled to take on Jason Lambert at the same event -- has been plugged in to face "Sugar." There's no official word yet on whether or not "The Punisher" will still compete at the O2 Arena against a soon to be named opponent or if he'll be bumped to a future card.
This is more bad news for Irvin who, admittedly, had a disastrous fight campaign in 2007, battling injuries and bizarre finishes inside the Octagon.
He got back on track with a sensational nine-second first round knockout of Houston Alexander at UFC Fight Night 13 last month. And when Chuck Liddell went down with a torn hamstring, he was called on to try and continue that run against Evans at UFC 85.
It apparently wasn't meant to be ... for now.
Cane lost his Octagon debut to Irvin at UFC 79: "Nemesis" because of a disqualification (illegal knee to the head). He was a highly touted prospect upon his arrival with the organization.
He now has a chance to show what he's got against a relatively high profile opponent in Evans.
This is the third opponent for Evans, who will look to keep his undefeated record intact and preserve his chances at a light heavyweight title shot sometime down the road.
It will be interesting to see if the opponent carousel will have any impact on his performance in less than three weeks.
For the most recent UFC 85 card click here.
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