Nate Marquardt and
Alessio Sakara were originally set to face each other at
UFC 116, but the fight was cancelled due to the death of Sakara's father. On July 23, Sakara's original opponent,
Jorge Rivera suffered a broken arm in training and was replaced by
Gerald Harris. On August 5, Sakara (who was back on the card) then bowed out due to an unknown injury and was replaced by
Joe Vedepo. On August 18, it was announced that the Harris/Vedepo bout had been scrapped altogether. A bout between
Nate Marquardt and
Rousimar Palhares was moved to
UFC Fight Night 22 and promoted to the new main event. The original Fight Night main event was scheduled to be
Demian Maia vs.
Alan Belcher, however, Belcher had to withdraw due to an injured retina. As a result of this, Maia was moved to this card and fought Mario Miranda. The event featured the first MMA appearance of a professional boxer with three-time world champion
James Toney. The debut of a professional boxer took place at
UFC 1 when
Art Jimmerson lost to
Royce Gracie by submission. On August 5, it was announced that
Terry Etim had suffered a broken rib in training and was pulling out of his bout with
Joe Lauzon. Etim was replaced by former
UFC and
TUF veteran
Gabe Ruediger.
Phil Baroni was scheduled to face
John Salter, but Baroni was forced off the card on July 27 with a collarbone injury.
Dan Miller served as Baroni's replacement. On August 25, Dana White announced that the winner of the
Florian vs.
Maynard fight would be guaranteed the next shot at the lightweight title. ==Results==