Tarec Saffiedine has pulled out of his fight against Jake Ellenberger at UFC 172 and the UFC has moved Ellenberger to the UFC 173 card to face Robbie Lawler.
The news of the injury and new fight booking was announced by the UFC on Friday.
UFC 173 takes place on May 24th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by Renan Barao defending the UFC bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw.
Lawler (22-10, 1NC) is coming off a decision defeat to Johny Hendricks at UFC 171 for the vacant welterweight title and the defeat snapped a three fight winning streak. Prior to his fight with Hendricks, two of his last three wins had come by knockout including a knockout of the night bonus against Josh Koscheck.
Ellenberger (29-7) has been in the UFC since 2009 and has won eight of his last ten fights. He is 2-2 in his last four fights and one of those victories came at UFC 158 against Nate Marquardt, which he won the fight in the first round by knockout.
The current UFC 173: Barao vs. Dillashaw card is below.
Renan Barao (32-1, 1NC) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (9-2)
Junior dos Santos (16-3) vs. Stipe Miocic (11-1)
Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2) vs. Francisco Rivera (10-2, 1NC)
Jake Ellenberger (29-7) vs. Robbie Lawler (22-10)
Tony Ferguson (14-3) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (22-5-2)
Jamie Varner (21-9-1 2NC) vs. James Krause (20-5)
Michael Chiesa (10-1) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (14-3)
Chris Holdsworth (5-0) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (12-7, 1NC)
Al Iaquinta (8-2-1) vs. Mitch Clarke (10-2)
Anthony Njokunai (16-7, 1NC) vs. Vinc Pichel (8-1)
Yves Edwards (42-20-1, 1NC) vs. Piotr Hallmann (14-2)
Sam Sicilia (12-4) vs. Doo Ho Choi (11-1)
Jingliang Li (8-2) vs. Danny Mitchell (14-5-1)