Rafael Natal will step in on short notice to fight Alessio Sakara at UFC on Versus 3. "Sapo," which means toad in Portuguese, replaces the injured middleweight Maiquel Falcao.MMA Weekly first reported the news, and MMA Fighting confirmed the switch with sources close to the fight. According to sources, the fight will remain on the televised portion of the card.
Natal is 0-1-1 in the UFC. He lost to Rich Attonito at UFN 22 via unanimous decision and fought Jesse Bongfeldt to a majority draw at UFC 124. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black, who trains out of New York City, will enter the fight with a 12-3-1 record.
Sakara (15-7 with 1 no contest) has won his last three fights in a row against Joe Vedepo, Thales Leites and James Irvin. He was supposed to fight Jorge Rivera at UFC 122 but pulled out on fight night due to suffering from flu-like symptoms.
The UFC's third telecast on Versus will be headlined by Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann. The event will air live on March 3 from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY.
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