Down goes Anthony Johnson! Daniel Roberts Steps In (Update)

Anthony Johnson (8-3) has withdrawn from his fight with John Howard (13-4) due to a knee injury. 

Johnson was scheduled to fight Howard as part of the UFC's debut card on Versus on March 21st.  No word yet as to whether or not Howard will remain on the fight card. 

Anthony Johnson recently lost to Josh Koscheck at UFC 106, in a fight marred by unintentional eye-pokes. Howard is currently 3-0 in the UFC and is on a six fight win streak. John had been previously offered a fight with Johnson but turned it down for more time to develop. 

The Versus fight card features a headline bout between light heavyweights Jon Jones and Brandon Vera.

Update: Johnson posted this message on his Facebook account:

I apologize to the fans, UFC, and John Howard for having to pull out of the fight because of a knee injury. It's a fight that I really was looking forward to. Howard keep training hard we are still gonna get down no matter what.

Update #2: The Boston Herald reports that Daniel Roberts (9-0) will step in to fight Howard on March 21st. Roberts will be making his UFC debut. Daniel fights out of Oklahoma with seven of his nine professional wins coming via submission.

SBN coverage of UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones