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Mike Piece will step in for the injured Thiago Alves (who stepped in for the injured Ricardo Almeida) to fight Jon Fitch at UFC 107 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mike Pierce (10-1) recently made his UFC debut at Ultimate Fight Night 19, where he defeated WEC standout Brock Larson.

For the UFC, losing a possible welterweight bout between the #2 and #3 ranked welterweights in favor of a prospect fighting an established fighter is a serious blow to their December pay-per view fight card. Not to mention this fight reeks of feeding a young gun to the wolves.

Recently the UFC has faced a blight of injuries that reminds this history dork of the Great Potato Famine (science + history for the win!)

Bloodyelbow details the injuries that just the UFC champions are facing,

Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar: UFC 106 bout with Shane Carwin postponed until UFC 108 due to flu.

Light heavyweight Champ Lyoto Machida: out for hand surgery, return date unknown.

Middleweight champ Anderson Silva: out for elbow surgery, bout with Vitor Belfort remains unscheduled.

Welterweight champ Georges St Pierre: torn adductor muscle, may be out until March 2010.

Lighweight champ B.J. Penn: healthy will defend his title against Diego Sanchez at UFC 107.

That's just the champions!