UFC on FUEL TV 4: Joey Beltran returns as light heavyweight to take on James Te Huna

It emerged today that former UFC fighter Joey Beltran (14-7) who was released earlier this year has been called back up to face James Te Huna (14-5) at the UFC on Fuel TV 4 event. Beltran will return as a light heavyweight after an unsuccessful run in the promotion at heavyweight.

UFC officials broke the news on Monday about Joey coming in as a replacement for Brandon Vera who has stepped up to take on Mauricio Rua at UFC on Fox 4.

UFC on Fuel TV 4 takes place on July 11^th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The main event will feature a matchup between Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman with the main card will airing on Fuel TV with the prelims expected to air on Facebook.

Joey Beltran enters this fight coming off a decision victory over Anton Talamante at a C3 Fights event in April. Prior to that victory outside of the octagon, Joey had a tough stint in the UFC with a record of (3-4) since joining the promotion in February 2010. His most recent string of bad performances began after his victory over Aaron Rosa at UFC 131 when he dropped back-to-back losses to Stipe Miočić and Lavar Johnson. The UFC chose to release Beltran after this and the “Mexicutioner” made a decision to drop to light heavyweight. He is as durable as they come and now has a chance to impress UFC bosses with a good performance in July.

James Te Huna is on a good run at the moment after notching two straight victories over Ricardo Romero and most recently Aaron Rosa at UFC on FX 2 event earlier this year. James defeated Rosa via TKO during the first round in front of an Australian home crowd, while Te Huna’s only loss in the UFC was at the hands of Alexander Gustafsson when they met at UFC 127 in February 2011. Gustaffson ended the fight with a rear-naked choke in the second round. Te Huna will now look to extend his winning run to three and continue to climb up the light heavyweight ladder.