Hector Lombard out; Tyron Woodley now faces Dong Hyun Kim in August
An injury has forced top 10 ranked welterweight Hector Lombard out of his upcoming fight on August 23 against Dong Hyun Kim in Macao, China.
In his place steps a fellow American Top Team fighter as Tyron Woodley has accepted the bout on short notice to fill the spot vacated by Lombard in the co-main event on the card.
UFC president Dana White made the announcement via Twitter on Monday night.
Just let Dong Hyun Kim officially know that Lombard is out injured and Woodley is in for #ufcmacao… http://t.co/I7jmzl6yVH
— Dana White (@danawhite) June 24, 2014
There has been no official word on what injured Lombard suffered, but considering the fight with Kim is still two months away it must have been severe enough to keep him out of training for several weeks.
In the meanwhile, Woodley accepts the fight just weeks after his last fight at UFC 174 in Vancouver when he lost a lopsided decision to Rory MacDonald. Prior to that loss, Woodley had climbed as high as No. 3 in the rankings following a win over Carlos Condit earlier this year.
Now aftera disappointing performance against MacDonald in June, Woodley will look to rectify his spot in the rankings by taking on another tough test in the Korean welterweight who has been on a tear as of late.
Kim has reeled off four wins in a row including knockouts over Erick Silva and John Hathaway in consecutive fights. He will look to lock up No. 5 when he faces Woodley in the co-main event in the UFC's return to China.
The new welterweight bout will be featured under the main event for the evening as former Strikeforce champion Cung Le takes on Michael Bisping in a five round middleweight headliner for the card airing exclusively on the UFC's digital network, Fight Pass.
