 TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero has been forced to withdraw from his UFC Fight Night 18 co-main event fight with Jeremy Stephens due to a rib injury. No replacement has been named but a source has stated that Gleison Tibau has apparently been offered the fight.
Escudero showed a lot of potential in his impressive victories over Ido Pariente, Shane Nelson and Junie Browning on last season’s “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series. Escudero went into his finale fight against Phillipe Novar as an underdog, but he proved all the doubters wrong by scoring a unanimous decision win over Nover and thus earning the contract to compete in the UFC. In the fight against Nover, Escudero was able to neutralize Nover’s striking and control Nover with his dominant wrestling skills.
Jeremy Stephens recently fought in the main event at UFN 17 in February against Joe Lauzon. Stephens had taken the fight on short notice and was replacing training partner Hermes Franca. Stephens ended up suffering a submission loss to Lauzon, dropping his record to 3-3 in the UFC.
|
Email Updates
Email Story
Print Story