A late injury to TUF Nations winner Chad Laprise has forced the UFC to scratch a welterweight contest between Laprise and Li Jingliang from the card of UFC 206. The UFC announced the news Wednesday.
Jingliang (11-4) is expected to be re-booked for a fight at a later date. The Chinese fighter holds a 3-2 record under the UFC umbrella, highlighted by a pair of first-round knockouts over Dhiego Lima and Anton Zafir.
The news is most unfortunate for Laprise (11-2), a 30-year-old Ontario native who misses out on a chance to fight in front of his hometown crowd at UFC 206.
Laprise ripped through the TUF Nations welterweight bracket to win the show's crown in 2014 with a split decision victory over Olivier Aubin-Mercier. Laprise then dropped down to lightweight and won three of his next five contests, however he badly missed weight in his most recent fight, tipping the scales at 159 pounds ahead of a first-round knockout of Thibault Gouti at UFC on FOX 21.
The incident caused Laprise to move back up to the welterweight division, but now that move will have to wait.
UFC 206 takes place Dec. 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and hard-hitting challenger Anthony Johnson square off in a rematch in the night's main event.
An updated UFC 206 fight card can be seen below.
- Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson
- Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis
- Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown
- Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy
- Dooho Choi vs. Cub Swanson
- Nikita Krylov vs. Misha Cirkunov
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Drew Dober
- Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira
- Lando Vannata vs. John Makdessi
- Rustam Khabilov vs. Jason Saggo
- Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez
- Zach Makovsky vs. Dustin Ortiz
- Emil Meek vs. Jordan Mein