Brandon Thatch in for injured John Hathaway vs. Gunnar Nelson at UFC 189

Brandon Thatch

Well, UFC 189 got one piece of good news today, at least.

With John Hathaway (17-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) out with an injury, Gunnar Nelson (13-3-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has a new opponent: Welterweight Brandon Thatch (11-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

UFC officials announced the new bout today. Nelson vs. Thatch will take place on the main card.

UFC 189 takes place July 11 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. The main event between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor reportedly is in jeopardy due to an Aldo rib injury announced today.

Thatch took a short-noticed fight against Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night 60 in February, but suffered his first UFC loss when Henderson choked him out in the fourth round. The bout was a “Fight of the Night” winner, but snapped Thatch’s 10-fight winning streak. Now he’ll try his hands at a short-notice fight again.

Nelson looks to rebound from his first career loss, which came via split decision to resurgent Rick Story in October. The 26-year-old Icelandic submission specialist, who now fights in the U.S. for the first time, had won his first four UFC fights – and netted a pair of “Performance of the Night” bonuses – before his recent setback, which snapped an overall 13-fight winning streak.

Hathaway, a 27-year-old English fighter who won seven of his first eight UFC fights, most recently suffered a spinning back elbow knockout loss to Dong Hyun Kim in March 2014. He’s since been battling Crohn’s disease and has been on the sidelines for the past 16 months.

The latest UFC 189 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor – for featherweight title
• Champ Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald – for welterweight title
• Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens
• Gunnar Nelson vs. Brandon Thatch
• Thomas Almeida vs. Brad Pickett

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Matt Brown vs. Tim Means
• John Howard vs. Brandon Thatch
• Alex Garcia vs. Mike Swick
• Henry Briones vs. Cody Garbrandt

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)

• Neil Seery vs. Louis Smolka
• Yosdenis Cedeno vs. Cody Pfister

For more on UFC 189, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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