An undisclosed injury has forced John Howard out of his UFC Fight Night 45 bout against Rick Story and replacing Howard in the fight will be Ultimate Fighter Brazil alum Leonardo Mafra Teixeira.
UFC officials announced the change on Tuesday.
UFC Fight Night 45 will come from the Ovation Hall inside the Revel Casino on July 16th and will be headlined by Donald Cerrone meeting Jim Miller in a five round lightweight bout.
Teixeira (11-1) was a contestant on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil and lost his official UFC debut at UFC 147 against Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo by TKO. Since that fight, he has won five in a row outside of the UFC and all of those wins have come by TKO/KO.
Story (16-8) has been in the UFC since 2009 and is 3-3 in his last six fights. His last appearance in the octagon came in March as he lost a split decision to Kelvin Gastelum and it was his third straight fight that went the distance.
The current UFC Fight Night 45: Cerrone vs. Miller fight card is below.
Donald Cerrone (23-6, 1NC) vs. Jim Miller (24-4, 1NC)
John Lineker (19-6) vs. Alptekin Ozkilic (9-2)
Rick Story (16-8) vs. Leonardo Mafra Teixeira (11-1)
Pat Healy (29-19, 1NC) vs. Gleison Tibau (28-10)
Edson Barboza (13-2) vs. Evan Dunham (14-5)
Aljamain Sterling (9-0) vs. Hugo Viana (8-2)
Lucas Martins (14-1) vs. Jim Alers (13-1)
Joe Proctor (9-2) vs. Justin Salas (12-5)
Jessamyn Duke (3-1, 1NC) vs. Leslie Smith (6-5-1)
Claudia Gadelha (11-0) vs. Tina Lahdemaki (5-0)