Newcomer Jesse Ronson in for injured Mark Bocek vs. Michel Prazeres at UFC 165

With Mark Bocek injured, a fellow Canadian has been signed by the UFC to take his place next month in Toronto.

Bocek (11-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) has been forced out of his UFC 165 fight against Michel Prazeres (16-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and Jesse Ronson (13-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his promotional debut in Bocek’s place.

The London Free Press first reported the news, which was subsequently confirmed by UFC officials.

UFC 165 takes place Sept. 21 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The pay-per-view main card features a light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson and an interim bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland. The main card follows prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Ronson has gone more than two years since his most recent loss, which came to current UFC fighter and “TUF” finalist Mike Ricci. Since then, he has won eight straight fights with five by stoppage. In July, he submitted Shane Campbell under the Aggression Fighting Championship banner in Canada. Overall, “The Body Snatcher” has 10 of his 13 wins by stoppage.

Prazeres made his UFC debut in May as an unbeaten fighter. But he dropped a unanimous decision to Paulo Thiago at UFC on FX 8 in his native Brazil for the first loss of his career. He was looking to rebound against Bocek in Bocek’s native Canada, but now will make the same attempt against Ronson.

Bocek was looking to rebound himself from a loss in November to Rafael dos Anjos, a unanimous decision that snapped a two-fight win streak. Bocek confirmed his injury on his official Twitter account, saying, “I’m very sorry to report that I have sustained an injury during training and I will not be able to fight at ?#UFC165?. I will be back stronger!”

With the change, the latest UFC 165 card includes:

• Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson – for light-heavyweight title
• Renan Barao vs. Eddie Wineland – for interim bantamweight title
• Matt Mitrione vs. Brendan Schaub
• Pat Healy vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Francis Carmont vs. Constantinos Philippou
• Myles Jury vs. Mike Ricci
• Ivan Menjivar vs. Norifumi Yamamoto
• Chris Clements vs. Stephen Thompson
• Mitch Gagnon vs. Dustin Kimura
• Renee Forte vs. John Makdessi
• Michel Prazeres vs. Jesse Ronson
• Nandor Guelmino vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
• Alex Caceres vs. Roland Delorme

For the latest on UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jesse Ronson)