Jamie Varner Steps In for Bobby Green, Faces Abel Trujillo at UFC 169

Bobby Green has been forced to bow out of of his UFC 169 fight with Abel Trujillo, and Jamie Varner has agreed to take his place, UFC officials announced on Tuesday.

The lightweight match-up will likely be part of the preliminary portion of the card before the pay-per-view, which takes place on Feb. 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Varner (21-8-1, 2 NC) is a former WEC lightweight champion, a title he held from 2008 to 2010. His last two UFC outings were razor-close performances that resulted in split decisions, with the most recent being a loss to Gleison Tibau, the previous a win over Melvin Guillard.

Trujillo (11-5, 1 NC) last stepped into the Octagon at the recent UFC on Fox 9 event, where he decimated Roger Bowling with a technical knockout in the second round.

UFC officials did not divulge the reason why Green was forced off the card.

UFC 169 includes a bantamweight title unification bout between champion Dominick Cruz and interim champ Renan Barao, as well as featherweight title fight between champ Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas.

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