Piotr Hallman replaces Njokuani, meets Al Iaquinta at UFC Fight Night 30

With his UFC debut a successful one earlier this month in Brazil, Piotr Hallman will fight again on a quick turnaround.

Hallman (14-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will step in for the injured Anthony Njokuani (16-7 MMA, 3-3 UFC) next month at UFC Fight Night 30 to meet Al Iaquinta (6-2-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a lightweight bout. UFC officials announced the new booking overnight.

Njokuani’s injury and removal from the card was first reported earlier this week by MMAjunkie.com. Iaquinta’s spot on the card was as a replacement for the injured Paul Taylor.

UFC Fight Night 30 takes place Oct. 26 at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The main card airs on FOX Sports 2.

Earlier this month at UFC Fight Night 28, Hallman, from Poland, brought a nine-fight winning streak into his UFC debut, and he did so in hostile territory in Brazil. But he didn’t disappoint, submitting Francisco Trinaldo in the second round with a kimura to run his streak to 10. Now he’ll be rewarded with a fight on his home continent that will come just a little more than seven weeks after his debut. By then, it will have been more than three years since Hallman’s last loss. The 26-year-old has 13 of his 14 career wins by stoppage.

Iaquinta is looking to build on the strength of his first UFC win, an August decision over Ryan Couture. That win wound up being the one that sent Couture packing from the UFC with an 0-2 mark in the promotion, as MMAjunkie.com was first to report on Wednesday. Prior to that result, “The Ultimate Fighter 15? finalist’s lone official UFC appearance was a loss to show winner Michael Chiesa in the season’s live finale. He now awaits word on if he’ll get a new opponent to prepare for on a little more than four weeks’ notice.

Njokuani was looking to build on a good run of wins in two of his past three fights, including a knockout of Roger Bowling at UFC on FOX 7 in April. But he has bounced between wins and losses the past three years without being able to put together a win streak. Now he’ll be sidelined for an unspecified amount of time before he can look to get that streak going. The original planned matchup against Taylor was the third time the two had been booked to fight – with Taylor pulling out with injuries all three times.

With the change to the card, UFC Fight Night 30 now includes:

• Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz
• Melvin Guillard vs. Ross Pearson
• Ryan Jimmo vs. Jimi Manuwa
• Norman Parke vs. Jon Tuck
• Magnus Cedenblad vs. Alessio Sakara
• Phil Harris vs. John Lineker
• Piotr Hallman vs. Al Iaquinta
• Luke Barnatt vs. Andrew Craig
• Jessica Andrade vs. Rosi Sexton
• Cole Miller vs. Andy Ogle
• Jimy Hettes vs. Mike Wilkinson
• Michael Kuiper vs. Brad Scott

For more on UFC Fight Night 30, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Piotr Hallman)