UFC Fight Night 140 has experienced some more turnover shortly before the event on Nov. 17, with Tom Breese withdrawing from his middleweight bout with Cezar Ferreira.
First reporting this news on Friday was Combate, stating that Breese (11-1) had been forced to withdraw from his bout against Ferreira (13-6) due to injury. Ian Heinisch (11-1) is stepping in on just over a week’s notice to replace Breese.
Breese made his debut at middleweight this May when he knocked out Dan Kelly, having competed at welterweight prior to the move. Previously, Breese sat out the entirety of 2017 after he was deemed medically unfit to compete against Oluwale Bamgbose the day of UFC Fight Night 107 in March 2017.
Making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on about eight days’ notice, Heinisch earned a contract on Episode 7 of Season 2 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series by knocking out Justin Sumter in the first round. The only fighter to ever pull off a scarf hold armlock submission inside of the Legacy Fighting Alliance, he later won the interim LFA middleweight title in May of this year, only to vacate it for a chance to fight in the UFC.
Heinisch will be facing off against Ferreira, who made his UFC debut at UFC 147 by winning the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil middleweight tournament against Sergio Moraes. Since returning to middleweight in 2016, “Mutante” has won five of his last six bouts including victories over Karl Roberson, Nate Marquardt and light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith.
UFC Fight Night 140 will take place on Nov. 17, 2018, headlined by a welterweight matchup between Neil Magny and Argentina’s own Santiago Ponzinibbio.