Report: Benoist hurt, Tiago dos Santos meets Paulo Thiago at UFC on FX 8

An injury has forced welterweight Lance Benoist (6-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) off next month’s UFC on FX 8 card, and Brazilian UFC newcomer Michel Richard dos Prazeres (16-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in to meet Paulo Thiago (14-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC).

The fight switch was first reported by Brazilian news outlet Globo.com, though UFC officials have yet to make a formal announcement of the change.

UFC on FX 8 takes place May 18 at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The event’s main card airs live on FX following prelims on FUEL TV and Facebook.

Prazeres will make his UFC debut as an unbeaten welterweight with half of his wins by submission. But the Brazilian has competed just twice since 2010 and just four times since 2007. Prazeres first fought professionally in 2000 and won his first four fights by submission.

Thiago is 1-4 in his past five fights with just a decision win over David Mitchell at UFC 134 on the good side of the ledger for him. His losses in that stretch have come to Dong Hyun Kim, Siyar Bahadurzada, Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann.

Benoist was looking to get back in the win column after back-to-back losses to Seth Baczynski and Sean Pierson, which halted the perfect 6-0 start to his pro career.

The latest UFC on FX 8 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (FX, 9 p.m. ET)

• Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
• Constantinos Philippou vs. Ronaldo Souza
• Chris Camozzi vs. Rafael Natal
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham

PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV, 6 p.m. ET)

• Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz
• Mike Rio vs. Francisco Trinaldo
• Yuri Alcantara vs. Iliarde Santos
• Michel Richard dos Prazeres vs. Paulo Thiago*
• Azamat Gashimov vs. John Lineker
• Roger Hollett vs. Fabio Maldonado

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 4:30 p.m. ET)

• John Cholish vs. Gleison Tibau
• Chris Cariaso vs. Jussier Formiga
• Jeremy Larsen vs. Lucas Martins

* Not officially announced

For the latest on UFC on FX 8, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Paulo Thiago)

Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET on April 20, 2013, to reflect Prazeres as Thiago’s new opponent. Globo initially reported the opponent as Tiago dos Santos.