By Chris Howie
August 7th, 2009

A back injury will force Wilson Gouveia off of UFC 102 on August 29th. MMANews.com confirmed the injury with the American Top Team middleweights marketing team, Method MMA Marketing.

Originally set to face James Irvin on the card, an injury forced Irvin out and The Ultimate Figher 3 finalist Ed Herman stepped up to fill in for him. Now with Gouviea out, Herman finds himself without an opponent after filling in for the injured Irvin. Gouveia contacted the UFC earlier today to inform them of the injury but no word on whether they will find a replacement to fight Herman or if the fight will be removed from the card completly.

He will be out until at least October and will need two weeks of rehab to nurse the injured back.

Gouveia, holds a 12-6 record (6-3 in the UFC) and is coming off a loss to Nathan Marquardt at UFC 95. He debuted in the 205lb division but decided to drop to the 185lb class after a loss to Goran Reljic at UFC 84. He holds wins over Seth Petruzelli, Jason Lambert, and Jason MacDonald.