Brian Houston in for Antonio Braga Neto vs. Derek Brunson at UFC Fight Night 31

Injury has forced Antonio Braga Neto (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) out of a planned UFC Fight Night 31 meeting with fellow middleweight Derek Brunson (10-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), and Brian Houston (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has agreed to take the open slot.

UFC officials today announced the new booking.

Featuring the middleweight debut of Lyoto Machida in a bout with Tim Kennedy, “UFC Fight Night 31: UFC Fight for the Troops 3? takes place Nov. 6 at Kentucky’s Fort Campbell. The bulk of the card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on Facebook.

The official bout order for the card has yet to be revealed, so the placement of the Brunson vs. Houston contest on the lineup is not yet known.

Brunson finally gets a chance to build off his UFC-debut win over Chris Leben at UFC 155 in December. The victory followed the first two losses of the Strikeforce vet’s pro MMA career. Brunson subsequently had been booked for a pair of fights. However, Ronny Markes was injured in a car accident, which forced the cancellation of their UFC on FUEL TV 10 bout, and an injury forced Brunson out of a UFC 164 meeting with Yoel Romero this past month.

Meanwhile, Houston was expected to debut for the UFC at August’s UFC 164 event, where he actually served as a replacement for Brunson against Yoel Romero, but an undisclosed medical issue forced him out of the bout. Houston’s first professional fight was in April 2012, and he’s won three of his first four fights by knockout.

Neto had looked to build off a UFC-debut win, which came via submission over Anthony Smith at UFC on FUEL TV 10. It marked the Brazilian’s fourth straight victory, which also included a fight at heavyweight and a subsequent drop all the way down to middleweight.

A timetable for his return wasn’t immediately established.

With the change, the complete UFC Fight Night 31 lineup now includes:

• Tim Kennedy vs. Lyoto Machida
• Liz Carmouche vs. Alexis Davis
• Ronny Markes vs. Yoel Romero
• Rustam Khabilov vs. Jorge Masvidal
• Michael Chiesa vs. Colton Smith
• Bobby Green vs. James Krause
• Francisco Rivera vs. George Roop
• Dennis Bermudez vs. Steven Siler
• Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie
• Chris Camozzi vs. Lorenz Larkin
• Yves Edwards vs. Yancy Medeiros
• Seth Baczynski vs. Neil Magny
• Derek Brunson vs. Brian Houston

For more on “UFC Fight Night 31: UFC Fight for the Troops 3,” check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Derek Brunson)