Thales Leites (11-1) has stepped up to replace the injured Travis Lutter at UFC 74: “Respect” and will face UFC newcomer Ryan Jensen (11-1) in a middleweight premlinary bout, according to Dave Meltzer at WrestlingObserver.com.
Here’s the snip:
“Travis Lutter is off the 8/25 UFC show in Las Vegas due to a bulging disc in his neck. Ryan Jensen’s new opponent is Thales Leites.”
Just a few hours ago we passed along a message from Lutter, which described that he had reinjured his neck training for the August 25 event and would have to reluctantly withdraw from the fight.
With just a few weeks to spare, it appears now that the Brazilian grappler is up for the challenge to compete on extremely short notice.
Since dropping his first bout inside the Octagon to Martin Kampmann via unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 4 Finale in November 2006, Leites has been perfect (2-0) and impressive.
He battered Pete Sell at UFC 69 in April of this year to earn a unanimous decision from all three judges scoring the bout. Then at the TUF 5 Finale little more than two months later, he submitted Floyd Sword with an arm triangle.
With the addition of Leites, UFC 74 remains a very intriguing card from top to bottom. To check out the revised fight card click here.
(Thanks to UFCmania reader “Big Ed” for the heads up.)
14 Comments »
I like Thailes and hes probably gonna win. Wow he might fight 4 times in a year. Maybe 5.
Thailes definitely impressed me his last time out. The only thing was that he was fighting a no-namer, but this opponent is one as well. I’ll go with Thailes only because he is solid on the ground and that usually wins fights.
i like leites, he looked good in his last fight, i hope he wins big…
This is a way better fight than Lutter/Jensen.
Take Ryan Jensen with the underdog bonus just for kicks on mmaplayground.com
[quote comment="116968"]This is a way better fight than Lutter/Jensen.[/quote]
I agree. ALL FOR NOTHING Travis Lutter should not be able to fight in the UFC after not being able to cut weight for a title fight. WHAT AN IDIOT!!! He obviously is not motivated enough to be champion. Hell he probably didnt even hurt his neck. Hes probably like 250 pounds and knows he wont cut weight again by August 25th..lol.
I gotta go with the local guy Jensen. I’ve spoken with him a couple times and just see him around the gym and he is a class guy. No ego and seems like a real nice guy. I’m hoping he wins, but it will be tough.
Wow! he took that fight on very short notice…I hope he pulls it also
I don’t think Leites will last 2 minutes with Jensen. Mark my word, Jensen’s name will be known in a couple of fights.
Jensen would have knocked out Lutter in the first round and this fight is going to be a war with our boy Ryan taking home the victory. PremierFighter.Com is a proud sponsor of Ryan Jensen and we look forward to watching him drop his foe’s in the 185 weight class of the UFC.
Of course, we sponsor and love Jensen. I am glad to see him fighting Leitus….a much better fight! I felt that win or lose again Lutter, Jensen wouldn’t gain the acknowledgement and respect he deserves. Once everyone see how talented Jensen is and that he is a humble guy with a great personality…he’ll develop a great fan base!
WINNERS OF UFC74 (Patrick Cote) (Georges St-Pierre) (Gabriel Gonzaga) (Roger HuertA) (Joe Stevenson) (David Heath) (Antoni Hardonk) (Marcus Aurelio) (Thales Leites)
Ryan Jensen is going to win. Currently he is the 185lb champion in VICTORY and also in the IFC. He has what it takes.
Dont be surprised when thales leites is knocked out in the first round. GOOOOOOOOOOOO ryan jensen , I will be there cheering you on baby.
I’ve seen Jensen fight and he’s a pretty tough mofo. I saw him kick a guy so hard on the thigh that the guy couldn’t stand back up on it. In his last fight, I saw him picked up 6 feet in the air and slammed back and neck to the canvas. He didn’t break his triangle choke! The opponent tapped shortly after. He’s the real deal. The only reason he has one loss is that he was that he fought in a small event a couple of weeks before a real money event, got into a little trouble and didn’t want to get cut and be out for the bigger event. All but one of his fights have been one in the first round!
My moneys on Jensen.