Mark Hunt Out, Lavar Johnson in at UFC 146

Mark Hunt suffered a knee injury in training and has had to withdraw from next week’s UFC 146 fight card.

UFC officials confirmed the news on Thursday.

Former Strikeforce fighter Lavar Johnson steps in to take his place against Stefan Struve.

Johnson (17-5) lost his final two Strikeforce bouts, but bounced back with UFC victories over Joey Beltran and Pat Barry. Now, he’ll get the opportunity to make it three in a row, stepping in with Struve in Las Vegas.

Struve (23-5) had been the only UFC 146 main card fighter not to have his bout changed up with the dominoes fell surrounding Alistair Overeem’s removal from the card.

That has changed, however, as Struve will be looking to add to his own back-to-back victories over Barry and Dave Herman when he steps in the Octagon with Johnson.

UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos headlines the UFC 146 fight card against Frank Mir on May 26 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

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