An undisclosed injury has forced John Hathaway to pull out of his UFC 189 bout against Gunnar Nelson and stepping up on short notice to face Nelson will be Brandon Thatch.
UFC officials announced the fight change on Tuesday.
UFC 189 will come from the MGM Grand Garden Arena and is expected to be headlined by a title fight as Jose Aldo defends the featherweight title against Conor McGregor.
Thatch was already scheduled to be on this fight card as he was booked to face John Howard on the preliminary card. With Thatch being elevated to the main card to face Nelson, Howard will now meet Cathal Pendred.
The current UFC 189: Aldo vs. McGregor fight card is below.
Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Jose Aldo (25-1) vs. Conor McGregor (17-2)
Robbie Lawler (27-8) vs. Rory MacDonald (18-2)
Dennis Bermudez (14-4) vs. Jeremy Stephens (23-11)
Gunnar Nelson (13-1-1) vs. Brandon Thatch (11-2)
Brad Pickett (24-10) vs. Thomas Almeida (19-0)
Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Matt Brown (19-13) vs. Tim Means (24-6-1)
John Howard (27-11) vs. Cathal Pendred (17-2-1)
Mike Swick (15-5) vs. Alex Garcia (12-2)
Cody Garbrandt (6-0) vs. Henry Briones (16-4-1)
Preliminary Card: (Fight Pass – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Neil Seery (15-10) vs. Louis Smolka (8-1)
Cody Pfister (11-4-1) vs. Yosdenis Cedeno (10-4)