The UFC 146 dominoes continue to fall. Company president Dana White announced Monday evening that heavyweight Roy Nelson (Pictured) now faces Gabriel Gonzaga in the May 26th extravaganza.
“Big Country” was originally slated to welcome Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva to the big leagues, but Silva was promoted to the card’s co-main event against Cain Velasquez on Sunday.
Velasquez was scheduled to meet Frank Mir in a top contender contest until Mir was moved to the show’s featured attraction to challenge Junior dos Santos for his heavyweight crown. As everybody knows by now, Alistair Overeem started this chain reaction after flunking his pre-fight drug test.
No word on where this move leaves Shane Del Rosario, who was supposed to battle Gonzaga. It’s likely the organization will keep Del Rosario on the UFC 146 roster and find him a new nemesis.
Nelson has dropped three of his last four contests, with his most recent defeat coming in a unanimous decision to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 143.
Gonzaga ended a 14-month Octagon hiatus by beating Ednaldo Oliveira at UFC 142. The former top contender posted a 8-5 mark in the UFC from 2005 to 2010. “Napao” was issued his walking papers after losing back-to-back bouts to dos Santos and Brendan Schaub.
UFC 146 takes place inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here is the card’s revised roster:
Preliminary Card:
Mike Brown vs. Daniel Pineda
Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig
Glover Teixeira vs. Kyle Kingsbury
(FX 8PM ET/5PM PT)
Paul Sass vs. Jacob Volkmann
Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway
Edson Barboza vs. Evan Dunham
Diego Brandao vs. Darren Elkins
Main Card:
(Pay-Per-View 10PM ET/7PM PT)
Shane Del Rosario vs. TBD
Stephan Struve vs. Mark Hunt
Roy Nelson vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva
Frank Mir vs. Junior dos Santos (UFC Heavyweight Champion)
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