Scratched from UFC 98, Irvin to get shot at Gouveia at UFC 102

The revolving door of fighters over the last 24 hours continues to turn as now it appears JamesIrvin, who was just forced out of his UFC 98 fight due to a knee injury, will get the chance to fight on Aug. 29 instead against American Top Team fighter, WilsonGouveia, at UFC 102.

The news was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Friday by sources close to the negotiations.

Gouveia was already scheduled at UFC 102 against Team Quest fighter, ChaelSonnen, but he was pulled from that slot and placed into a fight at UFC 98 against Dan Miller, who lost his original opponent, Yushin Okami, to a knee injury on Thursday.

Irvin will return in August after a torn miniscus kept him out of his scheduled fight for UFC 98 against Drew McFedries. The California based fighter isn't expected to need surgery on the knee, but will have to rehab it for approximately 5 weeks according to his manager, Mike Roberts, who discussed the injury with MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday.

As it stands now Sonnen vs. Miller is set for UFC 98, while Irvin vs. Gouveia is a go from UFC 102 in August.

When contacted on Thursday about some of the fight changes, Chael Sonnen expressed an interested to fight in both May and August, but the decision has been made to only keep him in the May fight, and place James Irvin in his slot for August.