Welterweight prospect Rory “Ares” MacDonald has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming UFC 140 event due to injury. MacDonald’s opponent, Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole, will now face Claude “The Prince” Patrick on the December 10th card, which takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
UFC officials announced the change today, but did not elaborate further on MacDonald’s injury and a timetable for his return is unknown. Ebersole has won back-to-back fights inside the Octagon since making his long-awaited UFC debut in February. Ontario’s Patrick has not lost in over nine years.
Ebersole (58-14-1, 1 NC) made his professional debut in early 2000, but it took over 11 years for him to finally compete inside the UFC Octagon for the first time. Ebersole defeated fellow veteran Chris “Lights Out” Lytle at UFC 127 and he returned to action in August against another long-time fighter, Dennis “Superman” Hallman. Ebersole needed less than one round to dispose of Hallman and he is now in the midst of a nine-fight winning streak that could lead to an improbable title run late in his career.
Patrick (14-1-0) has not tasted defeat since a June 2002 decision loss against UFC veteran Drew “The Massacre” McFedries. An impressive 12 of Patrick’s 14 victories have come by knockout or submission and he is 3-0 in the UFC. Patrick will compete in his home province of Ontario for the second straight time when he faces Ebersole and his strong submission skills could lead to victory, as Ebersole has fallen victim to fight-ending submissions on nine occasions.
UFC 140 takes place on December 10th at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event is headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Jon “Bones” Jones and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.
UFC 140 Fight Card (to date; subject to change):
– Jon “Bones” Jones vs Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida [UFC Light Heavyweight Championship]
– Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira vs Frank Mir
– Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira vs “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz
– Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole vs Claude “The Prince” Patrick
– Mark “The Machine” Hominick vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung
– Krzysztof “The Polish Experiment” Soszynski vs Igor “The Duke” Pokrajac
– Dennis “Superman” Hallman vs John “The Bull” Makdessi
– Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito vs TBD
– Nik “The Carny” Lentz vs Mark Bocek
– Jared “The Messenger” Hamman vs Constantinos “Costas” Philippou
– John Cholish vs Mitch Clarke
– Yves “Tiger” Jabouin vs Walel “The Gazelle” Watson
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)