Icelandic welterweight prospect Gunnar Nelson (9-0) just announced on the Facebook that Pascal Krauss has suffered an injury and pulled out of their fight in the UFC Nottingham card.
The promotion has come up with a replacement already as TUF veteran Rich Attonito (10-5) is now set to fight Nelson.
MMA Viking was able to confirm the change with Nelson’s manager, Halli Nelson. “Pascal Krauss is injured. Rich Attonito is Gunnar’s Nelson new opponent at UFC in Nottingham.” Nelson continues to say about the change, “From a boxer to a wrestler.”
Attonito is 3-2 in the UFC. He lost his last fight by TKO in the second round to Jake Hecht who dropped Attonito with short elbows to the head when the fighters were clinching against the cage.
Known as “The Raging Bull”, Nelson will have his hands full with the former D1 wrestler. Attonito is 35 years old, and has been fighting professionally since 2004.
The American is a former middleweight, so will be a physical force for the Icelandic grappler. Inside the Octagon Attonito’s best wins are over Daniel Roberts and Rafael Natal who both dropped a decision to the American Top Team fighter.
Germany’s Pascal Krauss has gone on to tell Tim Leidecker (Twitter at @TimLeidecker) on Sherdog.com that “I can’t laugh, can’t cough, can’t talk loudly or sleep without waking up at least 10 times at night”. “I tried getting over the pain using medication, but it was just too strong. I am devastated as it’s already the second time I had to cancel a fight due to injury. I apologize to Gunnar and his camp, I would have loved nothing more than being able to compete with him. I was looking forward to this fight so much.”
