A change has been made to the upcoming UFC 255 card in November as former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler has been forced out of his scheduled fight against Mike Perry due to injury.
Sources confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday after Perry released the news via Twitter.
While full details surrounding the injury are unknown, Lawler will be unable to compete as early as Nov. 21 for UFC 255. At this time there’s no word on when Lawler will be cleared to return to action.
As for Perry, he’s already made a public plea asking for a replacement opponent in the wake of Lawler’s injury.
He asked the UFC to match him up against highly touted prospect Khamzat Chimaev, who currently holds a perfect 3-0 records inside the octagon including a stunning first-round knockout over Gerald Meerschaert in his most recent performance. While the list of fighters volunteering to face Chimaev has been rather short, the UFC has already inked a deal to book him against No. 3 ranked welterweight Leon Edwards on Dec. 19.
That would appear to nix any chance Chimaev would fight Perry in November but stranger things have happened.
Regardless of Chimaev’s appearance on the card, Perry clearly wants a replacement opponent as he hopes to make his return at UFC 255.
Perry is currently coming off a unanimous decision win over Mickey Gall, which was then followed by an incident at a restaurant in Texas where the welterweight fighter got into a physical altercation with several patrons and was heard using a racial slur during the melee. The UFC required Perry to seek “professional treatment” before booking him into his next fight in November.
