WSOF

Michael Arrant replaces an injured Thiago Meller, meets John Howard on Friday at WSOF 31

Thiago Meller recently pulled out of his WSOF 31 bout against John Howard due to an injury and stepping up on short notice to face Howard will be Michael Arrant.

WSOF President Ray Sefo confirmed the new fight booking to MMA Junkie on Saturday.

WSOF 31 will come from The Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut on Friday and will be headlined by a title fight as Blagoy Ivanov defends the WSOF heavyweight title against Josh Copeland.

Arrant (15-10) will be making his WSOF debut and enters this fight following a decision lost to Brock Jardine in August of last year. The defeat snapped a six fight winning streak and twelve of his fifteen wins have come by stoppage. Howard (23-12) will also be making his WSOF debut on Friday night and this will be his first fight since exiting the UFC. He is 1-4 in his last five fights and comes into this fight following a lost to Tim Means at UFC Fight Night 80.

The current WSOF 31: Ivanov vs. Copeland fight card is below.

Main Card: (NBCSN – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Blagoy Ivanov (13-1) vs. Josh Copeland (13-1)
Jason High (19-5) vs. Mike Ricci (11-4)
John Howard (23-12) vs. Michael Arrant (15-10)
Luis Palomino (24-12) vs. Sheymon Moraes (8-1)
Phil Hawes (3-0) vs. Joshua Keys (6-11, 2NC)

Preliminary Card: (WSOF.com – 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT)
Lorenzo Hood (9-3) vs. Tyler King (10-4)
Juliano Coutinho (7-2) vs. Justin Willis (3-1)
Tom Marcellino (7-4) vs. Devin Powell (6-1)
Robert Fonseca (10-3, 1 NC) vs. Sean Lally (4-2)
Saul Almeida (18-6) vs. Bruce Boyington (12-8)
Rodrigo Almeida vs. Ben Pierre-Saint (9-4)
Sam Watford (2-0) vs. Christian Torres (0-0)