A rib injury to PRIDE and UFC veteran Wanderlei Silva has forced him out of a scheduled UFC 116 bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama, and a familiar middleweight will fill in for him: Chris Leben.
Leben, who fought on Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale, will take his second fight in as many weeks. He scored a dominant victory over Aaron Simpson, dispatching the formerly-undefeated fighter in the 2nd round by TKO. MMAJunkie.com was the first to report the news.
Silva suffered cracked ribs while training. MMAFighting.com first passed along the news from UFC President Dana White this afternoon.