Ruiz Raplaces Drwal at UFC 81

With Tomasz Drwal being forced to withdraw from the match-up with David Heath at UFC 81 due to a knee injury, it was believed that the entire bout would be scrapped, but MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that Heath will now fight Anthony Ruiz, rounding out the card with a total of nine fights.

Heath, who has been working with fighters in both his native Oklahoma as well as camps in Wisconsin, was originally slated to face Drwal, but then with his injury it appeared the fight was going to be dropped all together due to the short frame of time to secure another opponent.

Now, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has placed Anthony Ruiz into Drwal’s place against Heath in a light heavyweight match-up. The bout will serve as Ruiz’s debut in the organization.

Recently defeating former Ultimate Fighter season two finalist Brad Imes at the Palace Fighting Championship show in California, Ruiz has won his last six fights in a row, including Imes and another UFC alum, Bobby Southworth.

He has recently been fighting at heavyweight, but now will drop down to his natural 205-pound weight class for the fight with Heath.

Heath and Ruiz will be on the undercard of UFC 81 with a featured co-main event of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia for the interim heavyweight title, as well as the debut of former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar taking on Frank Mir.