Less than a week prior to his fight with Chris Horodecki, WEC lightweight Ed Ratcliff has withdrawn from his 155-pound main card bout at WEC 49 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Ratcliff announced the news via his Facebook account, and MMAjunkie.com confirmed with sources close to the event that the reason for the withdrawal was a result of injury.
Ratcliff was scheduled to face lightweight prospect Horodecki on the televised portion of the event on the Versus network. The fight was his first since being submitted by Donald Cerrone at WEC 45 last December, while Horodecki was looking for redemption of his own since his technical knockout loss to Anthony Njokuani in his debut with the promotion.
With just under five days left until the event, the WEC was quick to find a replacement to salvage the fight for Horodecki. Undefeated RoufusSport fighter Danny “Boy” Downes has stepped up as a late replacement and will face Horodecki. Downes’ last fight was in April for King of the Cage.