A scheduled WEC 36 light heavyweight bout between BoDog Fight veteran Steve "The Hooligan" Steinbeiss (4-1) and original "The Ultimate Fighter" cast member Alex Schoenauer (14-9) was canceled recently because of a torn hamstring suffered by Schoenauer in training.
The good news is that former UFC heavyweight fighter Carmelo "The Fury" Marrero (9-2) has agreed to step in as a last minute replacement, according to MMAWeekly.com.
Marrero's career highlight came at UFC 64 when he squeaked out a split decision win over Cheick Kongo. Unfortunately for him, he followed up that performance with back-to-back losses to Gabriel Gonzaga and Wilson Gouveia, which in turn led to the UFC cutting him from its roster.
Since that time, he's been able to put together four straight fights without a loss, including consecutive submission wins over Rader McHugh and Chuck Huus at two separate "C3 Fights" events in August and September.
This will mark the promotional debut for Marrero with the WEC.
Steinbess will also be making his first appearance in the WEC cage. His only career loss came in a decision to Bill Mahood last April during a BoDog Fight event. Since then he's defeated Anthony Rea (knockout), Wayne Andrews (submission) and most recently Francisco Alcantara by first round technical knockout at a Rock & Sock Promotions event in June.
With an absolutely stacked main card, it's doubtful this one will make the telecast, but Marrero is a solid late replacement for the organization. This should be a good, competitive fight, but nothing spectacular.
WEC 36 will air live on the Versus network beginning at 9 pm ET on Wednesday, November 5 from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber will put his 145-pound title on the line against Mike Brown in the main event and middleweight champion Paulo Filho will rematch Chael Sonnen in the cofeatured bout of the evening.
For more on WEC 36 click here and here. It's going to be sick!
Get the latest gear
