With Todd Duffee out, Mark Godbeer meets newcomer Daniel Spitz at UFC 209

With Todd Duffee (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) forced out of a planned UFC appearance, Mark Godbeer (11-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) now as a new foe.

UFC officials recently announced that promotional newcomer Daniel Spitz (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has agreed to step in on short notice and face Godbeer at UFC 209.

The bout takes place on the FS1-broadcast preliminary card, which follows early prelims on UFC Fight Pass and precedes the night’s pay-per-view main card.

Featuring a pair of title fights, UFC 209 takes place March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Spitz enters his UFC debut with a perfect career record through five fights, four of which ended in the opening round. Spitz’s wins have come largely against unproven talent, though his lone decision win did come against four-time UFC veteran Wesley “Cabbage” Correira.

Duffee was slated to return action for the first time since a July 2015 loss to former champ Frank Mir. Prior to the setback, the 31-year-old had earned consecutive wins over Anthony Hamilton, Philip De Fries and Neil Grove – all via first-round knockout.

Godbeer, meanwhile, made his UFC debut in November, when Justin Ledet tapped him out at UFC Fight Night 99. The 33-year-old Englishman had won three straight fights, which included a BAMMA title reign, before the promotional-debut setback.

With the replacement official, the UFC 209 lineup now includes:

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

• Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson – for welterweight title
• Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov – for interim lightweight title
• Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Kelly
• David Teymur vs. Lando Vannata
• Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Luis Henrique vs. Marcin Tybura
• Mirsad Bektic vs. Darren Elkins
• Iuri Alcantara vs. Luke Sanders
• Mark Godbeer vs. Daniel Spitz

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

• Paul Craig vs. Tyson Pedro
• Cynthia Calvillo vs. Amanda Cooper
• Albert Morales vs. Andre Soukhamthath

For more on UFC 209, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.