Brian Ebersole will make a quick turnaround after his latest win this past month and will fight again in less than three weeks.
With Claude Patrick (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) out with an injury, Ebersole (50-14-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will step in to meet James Head (8-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a welterweight bout at UFC 149 later this month. UFC officials on Tuesday announced the switch, which is the latest change on a card that has been ravaged with injuries and bout changes.
UFC 149 takes place July 21 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and will be the UFC's first visit to the city. Main-card fights air on pay-per-view, while preliminary-card bouts air on FX and stream on Facebook.
Ebersole is coming off a tough unanimous decision win over T.J. Waldburger at UFC on FX 4 on June 22 in Atlantic City, N.J. In that fight, he was dropped in the first round by Waldburger, who then pounced and nearly got a finish. But Ebersole battled back to win the second and third rounds and remain unbeaten in the UFC.
His four straight UFC wins are part of an 11-fight win streak for the Midwesterner, who now makes his home in Australia. Coincidentally, his last win before beating Waldburger came against Patrick, whom he now fills in for. Ebersole started his UFC career with an upset win over Chris Lytle at UFC 127 and hasn't looked back.
After his win over Waldburger, Ebersole said he was contemplating a drop to lightweight from 170 pounds. But with such a quick turnaround, any such move will be put on hold.
Head is coming off the first win of his UFC career, a first-round submission of Papy Abedi on the preliminary card of UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Stockholm, Sweden. That got him back in the win column after a rear-naked choke loss to Nick Ring in his promotional debut at UFC 131 in June 2011.
