PRO MMA (promma.info) has learned from WEC officials that Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Anthony Pettis (6-0, 0-0 WEC) has been injured and will be replaced by the much more experienced Bart Palaszewski (30-12, 1-1 WEC) at WEC 40 on April 5th.
Palaszewski will now face Pettis’s original opponent, Art of War champion, Anthony Njokuani (9-2, WEC 0-1) on the undercard of the Chicago event headlined by Miguel Torres (35-1, WEC 4-0)) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (11-2-2, WEC 0-0). Fans watching the Njokuani vs. Palaszewskifight should prepare themselves for what is likely to be a stand up war. Almost half of the wins of both fighter have come from knockouts.
Anthony Njokuani is a 29 year-old former Muay Thai champion and was a star in Chuck Norris’s World Combat League. He has dangerous feet, knees, and hands as demonstrated in his March 11, 2007 devastating first round knockout (video) of Kenneth Rosfort (10-3, WEC 0-0)) in Art of War. In fact, his last three victories have all been first round knockouts.
However, Njokuarni is getting an upgrade from his original opponent in Bart Palaszewski. Palaszewski is a student of Jeff Curran (31-10-1, WEC 2-3) and has been fighting professionally since 2002. The 25 year-old was 18 when he won his first amateur tournament and has gone on to defeat such fighters as Alex Karalexis (10-4, WEC 4-2), Ryan Schultz (20-11-1, WEC 2-1), and Ivan Menjivar (20-7, WEC 0-0) just to name a few.
MMA fans are in for a real treat on April 5th whether you are present at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago for WEC 40: TORRES vs. MIZUGAKI or watching the event live from home on Versus. The Versus broadcast begins at 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET.