[Bubbles]

With Goran Reljic (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) forced out of UFC 90 with a back injury, his original opponent, Thales Leites (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), is now expected to fight UFC veteran Drew McFedries (7-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC).

A source close to McFedries alerted MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) of the likely substitution today.

With the change, a fight between lightweight contenders Rich Clementi (32-12-1 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Gray Maynard (5-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is now expected to be promoted from the UFC 90's un-televised preliminary card to the pay per view broadcast's televised main card.

UFC 90, which features a main event of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote, takes place Oct. 25 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago.

Reljic first signed a UFC 90 bout agreement to meet Leites in August. However, the Croatian fighter has since suffered a back injury and is seeking treatment. In his place will likely step McFedries, a hard-hitting Miletich fighter who debuted in November 2006.

Since that time, McFedries has followed a knockout win with a loss three times over his six UFC fights. He most recently suffered a first-round submission loss to Mike Massenzio at UFC Fight Night 15.

Leites, meanwhile, will go for his fifth straight victory in the UFC since suffering a unanimous-decision loss to Martin Kampmann in his 2006 octagon debut. The Brazilian most recently scored a split-decision victory over Nate Marquardt at UFC 85, though the win was aided by Marquardt's two costly point deductions.

Glad that fight got put on the main card.
Leites will win his fight


Leites vs. McFedries at UFC 90; Maynard vs. Clementi headed to main card | MMAjunkie.com