Stephens injured, pulled from UFC Fight Night 29; Palhares vs. Pierce promoted

One day after featherweight Rony Jason (13-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was pulled from UFC Fight Night 29, Jeremy Stephens (21-9 MMA, 8-8 UFC) has also followed suit.

UFC officials today announced that Stephens has also suffered an injury in training and will not compete at the Oct. 9 event, which takes place at Jose Correa Arena in Barueri, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Recovery times for the two fighters were not immediately available, and it’s unknown if the fight will rebooked for a later date.

With the lineup change, UFC officials have promoted a welterweight bout of Rousimar Palhares (14-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) vs. Mike Pierce (17-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) to the evening’s main card.

Jason, a 29-year-old Brazilian, was the featherweight winner of the debut season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.” He won that season’s tournament with a UFC 147 victory over Godofredo Pepey and has since registered two more official wins after earning stoppage victories over Mike Wilkinson and Sam Sicilia.

Stephens was looking to return after a win in his featherweight debut in May, scoring a decision victory over Estevan Payan at UFC 160. That snapped a three-fight losing skid for “Lil’ Heathen,” who had fallen short against Yves Edwards, Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis.

With the changes, the latest UFC Fight Night 29 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m. ET)

• Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields
• Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva
• Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva
• Joey Beltran vs. Fabio Maldonado
• Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Pierce
• Raphael Assuncao vs. T.J. Dillashaw

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 5 p.m. ET)

• Rodrigo Damm vs. Hacran Dias
• Igor Araujo vs. Ildemar Alcantara
• Yan Cabral vs. David Mitchell
• Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 4:30 p.m. ET)

• Alan Patrick vs. Garett Whiteley

For more on UFC Fight Night 29, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jeremy Stephens)