Fast-rising Canadian prospect Rory MacDonald (10-1) has been forced to withdraw from a UFC 123 bout with Matt Brown (13-9) due to a knee injury, according to MMAJunkie.com, which also reported that Brian Foster (16-5) will take MacDonald’s place.
MacDonald won his UFC debut against Mike Guymon and was well on his way to defeating Carlos Condit at UFC 115 before a late surge by Condit gave him his first professional loss.
Brown comes into the match on a two-fight losing streak, dropping consecutive contests to Ricardo Almeida and Chris Lytle that dropped his UFC record to 4-3. Foster, meanwhile, has a 2-2 record in the Octagon. Like Brown, his last loss came by submission at the hands of Lytle — a second round kneebar at UFC 110 — but he bounced back last month with a TKO win over Forrest Petz.
UFC 123 will take place on Nov. 20 in Detroit, headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Lyoto Machida and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.