After being reported that a rib injury had forced Costas Philippou (13-4) out of his “UFC Fight Night 59 McGregor vs. Siver” bout against Uriah Hall (9-4), it has been confirmed that middleweight veteran Louis “Handgunz” Taylor (11-3) has stepped in as a late replacement.
The announcement was made by UFC officials during the UFC 182: Jones vs Cormier fight weekend and has been affirmed by MMA Junkie.
The Chicago native Taylor is currently riding a four fight win streak, and has top flight MMA experience, having previously competed in both Strikeforce and Bellator. 90% of his victories are finishes, with five TKO/KOs and five submission wins.
He faces a tough challenge in his promotional debut, against “The Ultimate Fighter 17” runner-up Hall. After two losses to Kelvin Gastelum and John Howard, the 30 year old snapped his two-fight skid with return wins over UFC legend Chris Leben and Thiago Santos.
UFC Fight Night 59 takes place Jan. 18 at Boston’s TD Arena, and the event is set to be headlined by a featherweight match-up between Conor McGregor and Dennis Siver.
Dana White recently confirmed that should McGregor get the job done in Boston, he will find himself next in-line for Jose Aldo’s featherweight gold. It seems stadiums and titles don’t seem too far away for the Irish faithful with Croke Park on the superstar’s check list for Uncle Dana.
The most up-to-date UFC Fight Night 59 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (BT Sports 1, 3am GMT)
Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver
Eddie Alvarez vs. Benson Henderson
Uriah Hall vs. Louis Taylor
Norman Parke vs. Gleison Tibau
PRELIMINARY CARD (BT Sports 1, 12am GMT)
Cathal Pendred vs. Sean Spencer
John Howard vs. Lorenz Larkin
Zhang Lipeng vs. Chris Wade
Patrick Holohan vs. Shane Howell
Johnny Case vs. Frankie Perez
Charles Rosa vs. Sean Soriano
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)
Sean O’Connell vs. Matt Van Buren
Tateki Matsuda vs. Joby Sanchez
