Jay Hieron back in the UFC to face Ellenberger following injury to Koscheck

Seven years after his most recent trip to the octagon, Jay Hieron (23-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) is returning to the UFC to face Jake Ellenberger in 3 weeks.

Signed bout agreements and a formal announcement are expected shortly.

UFC 151 takes place Sept. 1 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event’s main card airs live on pay-per-view while FX and Facebook host preliminary-card fights.

On Tuesday, UFC officials announced Koscheck’s withdrawal from the co-main-event fight due to injury.

The fight actually marks a rematch between the two fighters. Hieron earned a unanimous-decision victory over Ellenberger at a 2006 IFL event. It spoiled Ellenberger’s perfect 12-0 record at the time.

Hieron currently is on an 11-1 run, and the lone defeat came via split decision to Bellator champion Ben Askren in an October title fight. Due to differences with company officials, Hieron then parted ways with Bellator and signed with the Texas-based Legacy Fighting Championship. This past month, he earned a second-round submission win over Romario da Silva in his promotional debut. A source told MMAjunkie.com that Legacy officials, who recently have sent many of their fighters to the UFC, let Hieron out of his contract to follow suit.

Hieron, a former NCAA Division I wrestler and IFL champion, fought twice in the UFC; he suffered a TKO loss to now-champ Georges St-Pierre in 2004 at UFC 46, and a cut prompted a defeat to Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 2 a year later.

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