Dan Miller (above) has been chosen to step in for Phil Baroni at UFC 118. Photo by Dave Mandel / Sherdog.com.

It was announced on Tuesday that “The New York Badass” Phil ‘Baroni (13-12 MMA, 3-6 UFC) was forced to pull out of his UFC 118 middleweight bout against John Salter (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) due to a collarbone injury.

UFC 118 is scheduled to take place at TD Garden on Aug. 28 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship takes their show to Boston for the first time.

Sources close to the situation have confirmed with ProMMAnow.com that Dan Miller (11-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) will be Baroni’s replacement. As we understand, Aaron Simpson‘s (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) name was also on the table as a possibility.

Having lost his last three fights by unanimous decision, it is actually a bit surprising Miller has not been cut from the UFC roster. Surely this is a do or die fight for Miller, who most recently lost to Michael Bisping (20-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) at UFC 114 in May. One thing is certain, Miller will be a tougher fight for Salter than Baroni would have been.

Salter is coming off a first round TKO over the much more experienced Jason MacDonald (24-14 MMA, 5-6 UFC) at UFC  113 in May. Prior to that, Salter lost his UFC debut to Gerald Harris via third round TKO at “UFC Fight Night 20” in January.

It is worth noting Salter has recently changed training camps and now resides in Nashville, Tenn., where he trains with Ed Clay‘s Nashville MMA.

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