Todd Duffee returns to UFC in December against Phil De Fries

Todd Duffee will return to the UFC at the end of the year pay-per-view as he will replace Matt Mitrione against Phil De Fries.

UFC officials announced the news on Wednesday afternoon and the fight will take place on the preliminary card.

Duffee (7-2) was released by the UFC in 2010 and has gone 1-1 since leaving the organization. After he was released by the UFC, he took on Alistair Overeem at the end of 2010 in DREAM and was defeated by knockout in the first round.

His last fight took place at Super Fight League 2 against former Bellator heavyweight Neil Grove and he won the fight by knockout in the first round and was the knockout of the night. All of his victories have come by knockout and has only gone to the third round once in his career.

De Fries (9-1, 1NC) has won two of his three UFC fights and was originally scheduled to face Mitrione on this fight card. Once the UFC moved Mitrione to the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale, they had to find him a new opponent.

He is coming off a submission win at UFC on FOX 4 against Oli Thompson in the second round and this was his eight career victory by submission and his first UFC win by stoppage.

UFC 155 takes place on December 29th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by Junior dos Santos defending his UFC heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez, which is a rematch of their 2011 bout.