Brazilian middleweight Maiquel Falcao (26-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has been forced to withdraw from a planned UFC on Versus 3 meeting with Alessio Sakara (15-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC), and Rafael Natal (12-3-1 MMA, 0-1-1 UFC) has stepped into the open slot.MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed the switch, which was first reported by MMA Weekly.com.
Featuring a welterweight matchup between perennial contenders Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez, UFC on Versus 3 takes place March 3 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
Natal seeks his first UFC win in three trips to the octagon. "Sapo" suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Rich Attonito in his debut at UFC Fight Night 22, and a return bout at UFC 124 ended in a draw with Jesse Bongfeldt following a back-and-forth three-round affair.
Sakara is anxious to get back in the cage and hopes to extend a recent three-fight win streak. With a bit of a career resurgence, the Italian striker has posted knockout wins over Joe Vedepo and James Irvin and a split-decision win over Thales Leites. Due to a mixture of scratched bouts, injuries and a family death, the UFC on Versus 3 bout will be just the third Sakara has had in the past 19 months.
Falcao had been looking to build off of a UFC-debut victory over Gerald Harris, which extended the Brazilian's current win streak to eight. Falcao nearly ended the bout with a first-round rear-naked choke, but the round inexplicably ended six seconds early, and Harris was saved by the bell. The following two rounds proved rather lackluster, and Harris (despite a 3-1 UFC record) was released after the heavily panned bout.
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