UFC President Dana White told FoxSports.com yesterday that UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has a knee injury but would be able to defend his title on December 14th at UFC on FOX 9 against Josh Thomson.
However, the UFC announced on Sunday night that the knee injury has forced Pettis to pull out of his fight against Thomson.
The title fight has been delayed and a timetable for his return is unknown at this time.
With the fight being postponed, the UFC has announced that UFC on FOX 9 will now be headlined by Demetrious Johnson defending the flyweight title against Joseph Benavidez.
Johnson and Benavidez were scheduled to headline The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale on November 30th and that card will now be headlined by a lightweight bout as Gray Maynard meets Nick Diaz.
Johnson (18-2-1) defeated Benavidez at UFC 152 to win the inaugural UFC flyweight tournament to become the champion. Since that fight, he has made successful title defense against John Dodson and John Moraga. In both of those title defenses, he won a fight night bonus including the submission of the night bonus in his victory against Moraga.
Benavidez (19-3) has won three straight since being defeated by Johnson with the victories coming against Ian McCall, Darren Uyenoyama and Jussier Formiga. His most recent win was against Formiga at UFC Fight Night 28 in Brazil as he won the fight in the first round by TKO.
The current UFC on FOX 9 card is below,
Main Card: (Fox – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m PT)
Demetrious Johnson (18-2-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (19-3)
Urijah Faber (29-6) vs. Michael McDonald (16-2)
Carlos Condit (29-7) vs. Matt Brown (18-11)
Chad Mendes (15-1) vs. Nik Lentz (24-5-2, 1NC)
Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1, UFC.com)
Scott Jorgensen (14-7) vs. John Dodson (15-6)
Joe Lauzon (22-9) vs. Mac Danzig (21-11-1)
Danny Castillo (16-5) vs. Edson Barboza (12-1)
Kelvin Gastelum (7-0) vs. Court McGee (16-3)
John Moraga (13-2) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (8-4)
Abel Trujillo (10-5, 1NC) vs. Roger Bowling (11-4, 1NC)
Cody McKenzie (14-3) vs. Sam Stout (19-9-1)
Pat Healy (31-16, 1NC) vs. Jamie Varner (21-8-1, 2NC)