Gian Villante Replaces Robert Drysdale, Meets Cody Donavan at UFC 167

Gian Villante Replaces Robert Drysdale, Meets Cody Donavan at UFC 167
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Cody Donavan has a new opponent at UFC 167 in Gian Villante after his Original opponent, Robert Drysdale was denied a licence to fight by The Nevada State Athletic Department when an out of competition drug test revealed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio.

UFC 167 takes place Nov. 16 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with Donovan and Villante expect to be the opening bout of the evening.

Following a successful UFC debut where he Knocked out Nick Penner, Donovan (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) enters his bout with Villante looking to rebound from his most recent loss to Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen. A BJJ Blackbelt under Nate Marquardt, Donovan has only gone the distance once in 8 victories, picking up 4 knockouts and 3 submissions along the way.

Meanwhile, Villante (10-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) takes the fight on short notice seeking his first UFC win.

A former Ring of Combat champion, the 28-year-old New Yorker fought five times under the Strikeforce banner and earned a three-fight winning streak for the promotion with victories over Derrick Mehmen, Trevor Smith and Keith Berry, before joining The UFC. Villante met Ovince St. Preux in his UFC debut in a bout that ended with an "OSP" eye poke just 33 seconds into the final round, resulting in a bizarre finish, and a technical decision loss for the injured Villante.

With the replacement opponent in place, the UFC 167 lineup is again complete. The fight card includes:

MAIN CARD 
Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks - For The UFC Welterweight Title
Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen
Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald
Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley
Ali Bagautinov vs. Tim Elliott

PRELIMINARY CARD 
Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham
Ed Herman vs. Thales Leites
Brian Ebersole vs. Rick Story
Edwin Figueroa vs. Erik Perez

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)
Jason High vs. Anthony Lapsley
Vaughan Lee vs. Sergio Pettis
Cody Donovan vs. Gian Villante

Stay tuned to KingdomMMA.co.uk for more on UFC 167