Joe Stevenson has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled matchup against Takanori Gomi at UFC on Versus 2 after suffering a knee injury in training, but Tyson Griffin has agreed to face Gomi on short notice at the August 1 event in San Diego, Dave Meltzer reports.
Griffin (14-3) earned wins over Rafael dos Anjos and Hermes Franca in 2009, but dropped a split decision to undefeated prospect Evan Dunham at UFC 115 in Vancouver earlier this month.
After rebounding from back-to-back losses with two-straight wins, the former PRIDE champ Gomi (31-6) made his anticipated UFC debut in March, but suffered a third-round submission to lightweight contender Kenny Florian.
A timetable for Stevenson’s return has yet to be determined, with the former 155-pound challenger coming off a unanimous decision loss to George Sotiropoulos in February after earning wins over Nate Diaz and Spencer Fisher to end 2009.
UFC on Versus 2 is headlined by rising light heavyweight Jon Jones vs. veteran Vladimir Matyushenko and the UFC on Versus 2 fight card also includes Yushin Okami vs. Mark Munoz and John Howard vs. Jake Ellenberger.
For the latest UFC on Versus 2 news, including UFC on Versus 2 results on August 1, stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Tyson Griffin
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this is a good rebound oppurtunity for griffin hope he makes the most of it
wtf…. either way, gomi’s gonna have a hard time beating Griffin or Stevenson so i guess it really doesnt matter. By “hard time” I mean he’s not going to win period.
I’m glad to see more names popping up and taking fights on short notice. I guess word is spreading about Dana’s good will for those fighters.
Man does he ever reward it too. He doesn’t forget favors.
And off-topically, Dana doesn’t forget fighters who threaten to walk away from a PPV event because of a late change of opponent…
Good for Griffin stepping up on short notice, bad for Gomi because I think his opponent just got tougher. Unfortunately I think this will be Gomi’s last fight in the UFC.
I was just thinking the same thing.
This might be good news for Griffin, but its “turrible” news for Gomi…
Great matchup and good opportunity for griffin. A win over “gomi from pride” could get griffin back on track in the lw div. This could be a war! In his last fight gomi was shut down by kenflos awesome jab and technique. this fight, both guys are agressive and about the same size/reach. Should be a battle!
Amazing fight for tyson, I cant believe he lost to dunham
Tyson really needs to make up for that tough loss he had in his last fight he got dominated by Dunham… I really like Tyson and would love to see him fight for the title some day and a win over Gomi is gonna be huge for him.
i liked stevensons chances better but tyson def is a threat no doubt we ll c if gomi can keep up wit tysons pace his cardio is sick
Evan Dunham is very underrated. He took a pounding against Efrain in the 1st round and then pulled off that incredible armbar submission. He’s a dark horse in the lightweight division, and might contend pretty soon here.