John Howard replaces Josh Samman, faces Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night 26

Seven-time UFC veteran John Howard (20-8 MMA, 4-3 UFC) returns to the octagon for the first time in two years at next month’s UFC Fight Night 26 event to face “The Ultimate Fighter 17? finalist Uriah Hall (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

Howard replaces Josh Samman, who himself has replaced Hall’s originally scheduled opponent, Nick Ring.

Howard and Hall now meet in a middleweight bout on the FOX Sports 1-televised portion of next month’s “UFC Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen” event, which takes place Aug. 17 at Boston’s TD Garden.

The new booking was first reported by the Boston Herald, and UFC officials subsequently confirmed the change.

The Boston-based Howard, who competed as a welterweight during his first promotional run, made his UFC debut in 2009 and went unbeaten in his first four fights by registering wins over Daniel Roberts, Dennis Hallman, Tamdan McCrory and Chris Wilson. However, he then dropped consecutive fights to Matt Brown, Thiago Alves and Jake Ellenberger and was released from the promotion.

Since that time, he’s gone 6-1 in s seven-fight run, with five of the wins coming by knockout.

Hall was a heavy favorite on “TUF 17,” but in the tournament finals against Gastelum, he appeared off his game compared to some of the destructive finishes he had in the “TUF” house and Gastelum won a split decision. The former Ring of Combat fighter will be looking for his first official UFC victory.

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 26, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: John Howard)