Dennis Hallman steps in to fight Jon Fitch in WSOF 11 co-headliner

Perhaps the fourth time will be a charm for former UFC welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch at next month’s WSOF 11 event.

Dennis Hallman (53-14-2) has stepped in as a replacement and agreed to fight Fitch (25-6-1). WSOF officials today confirmed the bout with MMAjunkie following an initial report from MMAFighting.com.

WSOF 11, which marks the organization’s network-television debut, takes place July 5 at Ocean Center in Daytona, Fla. The main card airs on NBC following prelims on MMAjunkie.

Prior to Hallman, Fitch had lost three previously booked opponents, including welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares (mother’s illness), Jake Shields (injury) and Josh Burkman (injury).

Hallman, who’s racked up 70 fights during an 18-year career that’s taken him all over North America and Japan, went 3-2 in a recent UFC stint but was released after missing weight on two occasions. Since then, he’s defeated Dan Hornbuckle and Aleksey Shapovalov on the regional scene to move his current winning streak to three fights.

Fitch, meanwhile, fights for the third time under the WSOF banner. After 18 UFC appearances, Fitch debuted for the promotion in June 2013 with a surprising technical submission loss to Burkman. The longtime American Kickboxing Academy product bounced back with a hard-fought October win over Marcelo Alfaya and now fights for the first time in 2014.

The latest WSOF 11 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (NBC, 4 p.m. ET)

• Champ Justin Gaethje vs. Nick Newell – for lightweight title
• Jon Fitch vs. Dennis Hallman
• Gesias Cavalcante vs. Melvin Guillard
• Pablo Alfonso vs. Cody Bollinger

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 2 p.m. ET)

• Brian Cobb vs. Luis Palomino
• Alexandre Pimentel vs. Jerrod Sanders
• Neiman Gracie vs. David Mundell
• Jake Heun vs. Kendrick Miree

or more on WSOF 11, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Dennis Hallman)