Miller (15-4) had won back-to-back fights over Jorge Gurgel and Junie Browning before suffering a first-round knockout to Efrain Escudero last month at UFC 103.

Lauzon (12-2), the younger brother of fellow UFC 155-pounder Joe Lauzon and youngest fighter in UFC history when he debuted in a loss to Spencer Fisher in 2006, re-joined the UFC in July after the collapse of Affliction and had been expected to debut in September, but a back injury postponed his return. “The Upgrade” has won eight-straight, including a first-round submission of Bobby Green in January at Affliction: Day of Reckoning.

UFC 108, which has yet to be officially announced, is expected to feature middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort and Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva.

For the latest UFC 108 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

Pictured: Dan Lauzon

A back injury suffered while training has forced lightweight Dan Lauzon to withdraw from his UFC 103 matchup against

According to MMA Weekly, which first reported the injury on Monday, Lauzon will soon undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury and establish a timeline for his return.

It is not yet known whether the UFC will seek a replacement for the fight, or whether Oliveira will instead be scratched from the 13-bout card and booked to fight at another upcoming event.

Lauzon (12-2) made his UFC debut against Spencer Fisher in late-2006 as the youngest fighter in UFC history, losing via first-round TKO. After suffering another defeat to Deividas Taurosevicius in his next bout, “The Upgrade” has won 8-straight, including a first-round submission of Bobby Green at a January Affliction event.

Oliveira (8-1), a training partner of current UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn, has won three-straight, including a unanimous decision win in his most-recent bout in April, after suffering his only career loss to Lyle Beerbohm at an October ShoXC event.

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort headlines the UFC 103 pay-per-view card, which also features Junior Dos Santos vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Martin Kampmann vs. Mike Swick.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest UFC news and UFC rumors.

White opened the call by addressing the UFC’s attempt to sign Fedor Emelianenko following the recent-collapse of Affliction’s MMA promotion, saying the UFC offered him an “amazing” deal that won’t be matched anywhere else and satisfied all requests except co-promotion. Though White expected a deal to get done, the two sides have thus far been unable to reach an agreement, though he says Fedor’s management at M-1 Global can call him anytime to accept the offer.

The first announcement by the UFC President was the signing of Belfort, who was scheduled to fight at Affliction’s recently-canceled “Trilogy” event against Jorge Santiago, a winner of four-straight who returns to the UFC for the first time since 2005 and moves up to 195-pounds* to face the light heavyweight contender Franklin.

White also announced that Henderson, Franklin’s original opponent for the UFC 103 headliner who is coming off a recent knockout of Michael Bisping, will instead wait to meet middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva in his next fight. A date for the matchup has not yet been set pending Silva’s fight against Forrest Griffin next Saturday at UFC 101, but could take place “very soon” if Silva suffers little damage in the bout.

Tito Ortiz’s return to the UFC was also made official during the press conference, with White saying the former light heavyweight champ could fight the Hall of Famer Coleman at the UFC’s New Year’s show.

Other announcements included:

• The UFC has signed a three-year deal with ESPN’s new UK network, with fights slated to be broadcast free and in HD in both the UK and Ireland.
• Former Affliction fighters Belfort, Paul Daley, Paul Buentello, Ben Rothwell, Chase Gormley, and Dan Lauzon were confirmed to have signed with the UFC, with Javier Vazquez, LC Davis, and Mark Hominick are signed to the WEC. Up to 10 more former Affliction fighters remain in talks to join the promotions.

Minute-by-minute notes from the media conference call, including additional details on the UFC’s negotiations with Fedor and other news and notes, can be found below.

2:00pm ET: The UFC conference calls generally start a few minutes after their scheduled star time so stay tuned as we’ll be underway momentarily.

2:03pm: The call is now underway.

2:05pm: The UFC has signed Vitor Belfort, who will headline UFC 103 against Rich Franklin. Franklin’s previously-scheduled opponent Dan Henderson is next in line to fight Anderson Silva, according to White.

2:07pm: The UFC has signed a 3-year deal with ESPN UK, starting with UFC 101 on August 8th.

2:08pm: White confirms that Tito Ortiz is returning to the UFC and will retire with the promotion.

2:10pm: Dana confirms the signing of a number of Affliction fighters, says many are signed with UFC and WEC with up to 10 more still in talks. Paul Daley, Ben Rothwell, Chase Gormley, and Dan Lauzon confirmed to have signed with the UFC, with Javier Vazquez, LC Davis, and Mark Hominick all signed to the WEC.

2:12pm: Ortiz, who is also on the call, says he was just cleared last week to resume full training following back surgery and hopes to fight before the end of the year, specifically mentioning the New Year’s show.

2:14pm: Belfort-Franklin will be at light heavyweight (205 pounds)

2:15pm: White says Mark Coleman is likely to be Ortiz’s first opponent when he returns, says Ortiz won’t get any easy fights but will be rusty after his time off.

2:17pm: Asked about what “co-promotion” means, White says M-1 wanted half but would not benefit the UFC.

2:18pm: Asked about an ESPN deal in the US, White says they’re always negotiating with networks but offers not details on rumored negotiations.

2:19pm: The Nate Marquardt-Demian Maia winner is “in the mix” at 185-pounds, but Henderson is definitely next.

2:25pm: Dana White says UFC “can’t be stopped”, is coming to TV in Russia and Japan among others.

2:29pm: Timeline for Henderson-Silva depends on Silva’s fight with Griffin, but could be “very soon” if Silva sustains little damage.

2:30pm: The UFC has “no interest” in Arlovski or Sylvia.

2:30pm: White says he’s working to fulfill his promise of base jumping off the Mandalay Bay since UFC 100 surpassed 1.5 million buys.

2:32pm: White says he “doesn’t know” about a rematch between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.

2:33pm: White says he’s “ready to make a deal” to bring Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC and was confident deal was going to happen, says M-1 can call him anytime.

2:38pm: White says major deal which was being worked on last month in Los Angeles should be finalized soon, but offers no details.

2:39pm: White says he “buried the hatchet” with Affliction, including Tom Atencio.

2:41pm: UFC 100 drew 25 million viewers, UFC 101 episode of UFC Unleashed had 18 million viewers in Mexico. Live event in the works for the country.

2:44pm: Co-promotion with M-1 will “never happen,” partially due to the Fertitta’s gaming license.

2:54pm: Dana says UFC showed Fedor and M-1 “nothing but respect,” offer allowed Fedor to fight Sambo “every Thursday night” if he wanted to.

2:57pm: Ortiz calls Strikeforce’s Scott Coker “an awesome guy,” but says there’s not enough competition in Strikeforce.

2:59pm: Dana says unlike boxing, UFC would put big fights on network TV if deal gets done.

3:00pm: Ortiz reiterates that contract with UFC runs until his career is over, wants to fight as long as possible.

–END–

* Dana White announced that Franklin-Belfort would be at 205-pounds, but Franklin updated his Twitter to say that the fight will be at a 195-pound catchweight at Belfort’s request.

Five Knuckles first reported the preliminary card matchup on Thursday, citing a source close to the event.

Both Lauzon and Oliveira were scheduled to compete on August 1 at the recently-canceled Affliction: Trilogy event, with Lauzon booked to fight Chris Horodecki while Oliveira was to meet Takanori Gomi.

Lauzon (12-2) made his UFC debut against Spencer Fisher in late-2006 at the age of 18 years 7 months and 14 days, losing via first-round TKO. After suffering another defeat to Deividas Taurosevicius in his next bout, “The Upgrade” has won 8-straight, including a first-round submission of Bobby Green in his Affliction debut in January.

Oliveira (8-1), a training partner of current UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn, has won three-straight, including a unanimous decision win in his most-recent bout in April, after suffering his only career loss to Lyle Beerbohm at an October ShoXC event.

The fight is expected to be among the announcements made by UFC President Dana White at a Friday press conference.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest UFC news and UFC rumors.

Pictured: Dan Lauzon

Trilogy is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between top-ranked Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Also confirmed for the pay-per-view main card are Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago, and Paul Daley vs. Jay Hieron, as well as Paul Buentello, who is expected to take on the winner of a June 27 bout between Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel.

The fight card for Trilogy currently features:

PAY-PER-VIEW CARD

• Fedor Emelianenko (c) vs. Josh Barnett
  WAMMA Heavyweight Championship
• Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago
• Paul Buentello vs. Gilbert Yvel-Pedro Rizzo winner*
• Paul Daley vs. Jay Hieron

HDNET CARD

• Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
• Ben Rothwell vs. Chase Gormley
• Deividas Taurosevicius vs. TBA
• Brett Cooper vs. Akbarh Arreola*
• Mark Hominick vs. TBA*

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Lucio Linhares vs. Mikhail Zayats
• Rob Broughton vs. Jessie Gibbs

* Not officially announced

Though no other matchups were confirmed, Gegard Mousasi, Ben Rothwell, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Tim Sylvia, Mark Hominick, Dan Lauzon, Chris Horodecki, and Paul Buentello will all be in action at the event, according to the card’s official poster (pictured at right).

Contrary to previous speculation, “Trilogy” won’t be Affliction’s last event, according to Affliction COO Michael D. Cohen, who revealed to MMA Fanhouse that a fourth event is being planned for late-2009 on the east coast.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Affliction news and Affliction rumors.

The bout, which was originally slated to take place in January at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, was confirmed on Monday by MMAjunkie.

Horodecki (12-1), a former top contender in the IFL, has not fought since last April when he bounced back from the first loss of his career with a unanimous decision victory over Nate Lamotte. Prior to his August matchup with Lauzon, Horodecki will return to action in June on the undercard of Lashley-Sapp against William Sriyapai.

Lauzon (12-2), the youngest fighter in UFC history who suffered a loss to Spencer Fisher in his UFC debut in October 2006, has bounced back from back-to-back losses with eight-straight victoires since early-2007. Lauzon defeated Bobby Green via first-round submission at Affliction’s January event.

[Pictured: Chris Horodecki]

Dan Lauzon

Bobby Green will make his Affliction debut on short notice this Saturday at  “Day of Reckoning” against Dan Lauzon, replacing an injured Chris Horodecki who was forced off the card yesterday after failing to receive medical clearance for the fight due to a bulging disc in his neck.

Despite the newly booked matchup still airing on Saturday’s pay-per-view, which begins at 9pm ET, Affliction has shifted a welterweight bout between Jay Hieron and Jason High to the evening’s main card.

For the latest Affliction rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.

Chris Horodecki

Chris Horodecki has been forced out of his scheduled bout against Dan Lauzon on Saturday at Affliction “Day of Reckoning” after failing to receive medical clearance from the CSAC for undisclosed reasons.

MMAFrenzy.com confirmed the news with sources on Wednesday and has learned that the promotion is actively seeking a replacement for the lightweight tilt, which was to air on the pay-per-view card.

A veteran of TKO and the IFL, the 21-year-old Horodecki was most recently active in April with a unanimous decision win over Nate Lamotte.

Lauzon, the youngest fighter to ever compete in the UFC, has won seven-straight bouts since early-2007 after previously dropping back-to-back fights, including his UFC debut against Spencer Fisher.

MMAFrenzy.com will pass along news of a replacement when it becomes available.

For the latest Affliction: Day of Reckoning fight card check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.

Horodecki, who was recently rumored as a potential opponent for Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson, is a 155-pound prospect who has competed in both the IFL and TKO, losing just once in 13 career bouts, while Lauzon, the youngest fighter to ever compete in the UFC, has won six-straight contests.

The lightweight matchup was originally slated for October 11th, but when the event was postponed the status of the fight came into question, but the up-and-coming 155-pounders will indeed battle on January 24th.

For the latest Affliction rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.