The UFC announced last night that Josh Koscheck had pulled out of his UFC 151 co-main event fight against Jake Ellenberger and Jay Hieron will step in for Koscheck at UFC 151.
The news of the fight was initially reported by MMA Junkie and the UFC has now confirmed the report.
This will be the second time that Ellenberger and Hieron will have faced each other. The two fighters originally met in 2006 in the International Fight League. Hieron won the first bout by unanimous decision.
Hieron (23-5) has been out of the UFC since 2005 and has gone 11-1 in his last 12 fights. The only lost in his last 12 fights came against Ben Askren at Bellator 56, which was for the Bellator welterweight title.
After his fight with Askren, he asked for his release from Bellator and the organization granted his wish. Since his release from Bellator, he fought at Legacy Fighting Championships 12 and defeated Romario da Silva by technical submission.
Ellenberger (27-6) recently had his six fight winning streak ended by Martin Kampmann at the Ultimate Fighter Finale. He was knocked out in the second round and it was only his second lost in the UFC. During his UFC career, he has gone 6-2 and four of his wins are by knockout.
UFC 151 takes place from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on September 1st and will be headlined by Jon Jones defending the UFC light heavyweight title against former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson.