After Vitor Belfort was forced to withdraw with an injury, Matt Lindland (21-5) was left wondering who his opponent for Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" would be at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 11.
Elite XC Welterweight Champion Jake Shields was atop the rumor mill as a possible replacement, but today Trevor Prangley (17-5) was announced as "The Law's" opponent for the middleweight fight, according to a report picked up by BloodyElbow.com.
Prangley -- a UFC, Strikeforce, and BodogFight veteran -- last competed in November of 2007 in a four man tournament at Strikeforce: "Four Men Enter, One Man Survives" where he was victorious over Falaniko Vitale in the first round, but lost to Jorge Santiago in the finals.
The South African had put together an impressive five wins in a row heading into that tournament, including victories over some other top class fighters with tons of experience such as Yuki Kondo (48-22-6), Anthony Ruiz (21-11) and Andrei Semenov (28-9-2).
The competition won't get any easier for Prangley on October 11.
Lindland has been widely considered to be a top 10 middleweight for most of his career. He has victories over Jeremy Horn, Ricardo Almeida, Phil Baroni, Travis Lutter and others in his 11 years as a professional mixed martial artist.
His unanimous decision win over Fabio Negao at the inaugural Affliction event turned into a wrestling match, resulting in one of the more lackluster fights on the card. However, a win is a win and Negao is certainly no pushover.
But Lindland will have to put on a better show this time around if he wants to continue to get recognition as one of the top dogs. And that won't be easy against Trevor Prangley.
Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" will air live on pay-per-view (PPV) on October 11 from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event is a number one contender eliminator match for Fedor Emilianenko's WAMMA heavyweight title between Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski.
To check out the latest "Day of Reckoning" card and rumors click here.
Get the latest gear
