Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson will not fight John Hathaway as planned, who yesterday announced that he was injured for his welterweight bout. Instead, Gunni will now face American Brandon Thatch on the biggest card of the year.
Thatch won’t be coming in out of shape, as he was scheduled to face John Howard on the prelim bout of the July 11th card. Howard will now face Gunni’s teammate and training partner Cathal Pendred who comes into the bout off his recent UFC 188 win.
The UFC announced the new matchup, which will remain on the main card. Both fighters are coming off headlining losses, with Thatch losing to Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night 60 in February and Nelson losing to Rick Story at October’s UFC in Sweden.
This will be the Mjölnir MMA /SBGi fighter’s first bout in North America. Teammate Conor McGregor is scheduled to headline the card against Jose Aldo, but reports came out today indicating a rib injury to the Brazilian has now put the bout in jeopardy.
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