Sean Soriano out, Mike Brown meets Estevan Payan at UFC on FOX 11
Less than a week after he was announced for a fight on the card, an injury has knocked Sean Soriano from the UFC’s debut in Orlando, Fla.
Soriano (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is out of his featherweight bout against Estevan Payan (14-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) and has been replaced by Mike Brown (26-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) at UFC on FOX 11 in April. UFC officials announced the news on Wednesday.
UFC on FOX 11 takes place April 19 at Amway Center in Orlando. The main card airs on FOX following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. It will be the UFC’s first trip to Florida in nearly two years and first card in Orlando.
Brown, a longtime member of American Top Team in South Florida, will try to get back in the win column after being knocked out by Steven Siler in 50 seconds at UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston this past August. That was his first fight in more than a year after back-to-back wins over Nam Phan and Daniel Pineda.
Brown won the WEC’s featherweight title in just his second fight for the promotion, stopping Urjah Faber a little more than five years ago. He defended it against Leonard Garcia and against Faber in a rematch before losing the strap to Jose Aldo, who has held it ever since, first in the WEC and now in the UFC.
Payan has suffered back-to-back losses to Jeremy Stephens and Robbie Peralta. Prior to the setbacks, the 31-year-old Arizona Combat Sports fighter had won seven straight fights, two of which came under the Strikeforce banner prior to the merger of that promotion with the UFC.
Soriano was looking to rebound from the first loss of his career, which came earlier this year in his UFC debut. After starting his pro career 8-0 with six stoppages, the Blackzilians-trained fighter was tapped out by Tatsuya Kawajiri with a second-round rear-naked choke in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 34 in Singapore.
With the new fight, the latest UFC on FOX 11 card includes:
Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum
Liz Carmouche vs. Miesha Tate
Edson Barboza vs. Donald Cerrone
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal
Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares
Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski
Caio Magalhaes vs. Josh Samman
Jordan Mein vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Mike Brown vs. Estevan Payan
Derrick Lewis vs. Jack May
