Bad (or good, depending on perspective) news out of the Brad Pickett camp.
"One Punch" has suffered an injury and been forced to pull out of his scheduled UFC 130 contest against Miguel Torres. Taking his place will be Demetrious Johnson, who was already slated to appear on the May 28 card in Las Vegas, Nevada.
His former opponent, Renan Barao, will get a new opponent shortly, but "Mighty Mouse" will move into a potential number one contender bout. Dana White announced the switch late last night:
"The fastest man in the division has answered the call, and Demetrious Johnson will move into Pickett's spot to face the former divisional kingpin. Both men have verbally agreed to the fight."
Torres is fresh off a unanimous decision win over Antonio Banuelos at UFC 126, picking apart the hard-hitting Mexican brawler for three straight rounds with crisp boxing and fancy footwork. It was the second straight win for the former WEC champion -- the Carlson Gracie-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist choked out Charlie Valencia back in Sept. 2010.
The former pound-for-pound stalwart -- who now has his swagger back thanks to training under Firas Zahabi at Tristar -- will look to make it three straight, as well as continue his ascent toward the top of the division, when he takes on Johnson in "Sin City."
Johnson is fresh on the heels of the biggest win of his budding career; a dominant three round decision over the debuting Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto at UFC 126.
Prior to that, the 24 year-old "Mighty Mouse" had lost just once, to the man he is replacing, Brad Pickett, in his WEC debut.
A convincing win over Torres, which will possibly be featured on the Spike TV "Prelims" broadcast, would certainly catapult the speedy slugger to the upper reaches of the 135-pound division.
Can he do it? Stay tuned.
UFC 130 will feature a main event -- Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard -- for the lightweight title. Frank Mir vs Roy Nelson, as well as Quinton Jackson vs Matt Hamill, are also slated for the main card, among other fights.
For the complete UFC 130 fight card and rumors click here.
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