Ryan Couture’s second appearance inside the Octagon will see a different opponent than he was expecting. A fractured hand has forced Quinn Mulhern (18-3, 0-1 UFC) out of his scheduled bout with Couture at UFC 164 in August. Couture (6-2, 0-1 UFC) will now meet Al Iaquinta (5-2-1, 0-1 UFC) in a preliminary card bout at the event.
The Las Vegas Sun first reported the opponent switch, and UFC officials later confirmed the switch.
Couture is looking to get back into the win column after suffering a second-round TKO loss to Ross Pearson in his UFC debut at UFC On FUEL TV 9 in April. Couture had fought in the Strikeforce promotion prior to that promotion merging with the UFC, and he came into the UFC riding a four-fight win streak. All eight of Couture’s professional fights have come in either the Strikeforce or UFC promotions.
Iaquinta was a finalist on season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter”. He was submitted by Michael Chiesa in the finals in June 2012, and he has been out of action since then. He was scheduled to meet Joe Proctor at UFC 159 before being forced out of that bout. Iaquinta will be looking to end a two-fight losing skid when he steps into the Octagon against Couture.
Mulhern was looking to get back into the win column as well in his second UFC appearance. He lost to Rick Story at UFC 158 in March in his UFC debut. He will now have to wait until his hand heals before he makes that second UFC appearance.
UFC 164 takes place on Aug. 31 from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The main card airs on pay-per-view while preliminary card fights air on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook. UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson defends the title against Anthony Pettis in a much-anticipated rematch in the night’s main event.
A look at the current UFC 164 card:
- Benson Henderson(c) vs. Anthony Pettis- UFC Lightweight Championship
- Frank Mir vs. Josh Barnett
- Chad Mendes vs. Clay Guida
- Ben Rothwell vs. Brandon Vera
- Erik Koch vs. Dustin Poirier
- Jamie Varner vs. Gleison Tibau
- Louis Gaudinot vs. Tim Elliott
- Pascal Krauss vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
- Chico Camus vs. Kyung Ho Kang
- Derek Brunson vs. Yoel Romero
- Soa Palelei vs. Nikita Krylov
- Ryan Couture vs. Quinn Mulhern
- Jared Hamman vs. Magnus Cedenblad
