Following Yancy Medeiros being elevated to the main card of Saturday’s UFC 172 to face Jim Miller, the UFC has turned to Vagner Rocha to face Joe Ellenberger on the preliminary card of UFC 172.
The fight booking was officially announced by the UFC on Monday.
UFC 172 will take place from the Baltimore Arena on Saturday and will be headlined by Jon Jones defending the UFC light heavyweight title against Glover Teixeira.
Rocha (11-3) is returning to the UFC after winning four fights in a row since his exit from the organization in 2012. During his winning streak, thre of the wins have come by submission and his last win came in August against Randy Barroso at Fight Time 16.
Ellenberger (14-1) is the brother of current UFC welterweight Jake Ellenberger, who is already booked to be on the UFC 172 card as he faces Tarec Saffiedine. After being defeated for the first time in 2011 against current UFC fighter Justin Salas, Joe has won back to back fights and both of those wins have come by stoppage.
The current UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira fight card lineup is below.
Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Jon Jones (19-1) vs. Glover Teixeira (22-2)
Phil Davis (12-1, 1NC) vs. Anthony Johnson (16-4)
Luke Rockhold (11-2) vs. Tim Boetsch (17-6)
Jim Miller (23-4, 1NC) vs. Yancy Medeiros (10-1)
Max Holloway (8-3) vs. Andre Fili (13-1)
Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Joseph Benavidez (19-4) vs. Tim Elliott (10-4-1)
Isaac Vallie-Flagg (14-4-1) vs. Takanori Gomi (34-9, 1NC)
Jessamyn Duke (3-0, 1NC) vs. Bethe Correia (7-0)
Joe Ellenberger (14-1) vs. Vagner Rocha (11-3)
Preliminary Card: (UFC Fight Pass – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Danny Castillo (18-6) vs. Charlie Brenneman (19-6)
Chris Beal (8-0) vs. Patrick Williams (7-3)