An undisclosed injury has forced the withdrawal of Jake Ellenberger from the UFC Fight Night 34 event against former Strikeforce Welterweight champion Tarec “Sponge” Saffiedine (14-3), who will instead square off with South Koreas’ Hyun “The Ace” Gyu Lim (12-3).
Lim had been scheduled to meet Kiichi Kunimoto (15-5-2), who will instead take on Luiz Dutra (11-2-1).
Saffiedine has won 4 fights in a row, but has not fought since January in the main event of the last Strikeforce event defeating Nate Marquardt to capture the promotions last ever title. The “Sponge” had been expected to make hit UFC debut at Fox 8 vs. Robbie Lawler but due to injury was force to withdraw.
“The Ace” has won 7 straight bouts including UFC win over Marcelo Guimaraes (KO) and Pascal Krauss (KO). Lim has 9 of 11 stoppages by (T)KO.
Kunimoto has won 4 fights in a row, with 3 of the 4 by submission; including most recently armbaring UFC vet Edward Faaloloto.
Dutra is also on a 4 fight winning streak with 3 first round wins including having Pabulo Souza tap to an ankle lock.
UFC Fight Night 34 takes place on January 4 in Singapore.
