Veteran Jeremy Horn will be the late replacement for Thales Leites at UFC 81.

The UFC announced on Tuesday that Thales Leites was removed from the UFC 81 fight card due to a broken right hand that he suffered during his training for the upcoming fight. He is slated to have surgery later this week. This will be twice now that Thales Leites and Nate Marquardt were suppose to meet in the octagon. They were suppose to meet in October of 2006 but Leites was unable to enter the country due to some problems with his travel documentation.

Jeremy Horn should have no issues with the late notice. He is one of the most experienced fighters in the world and currently holds a record of 79-16-5. Horn was victorious in his last two octagon appearances defeating Chael Sonnen at UFC 60 and Trevor Prangley at UFC 56. Since then he has only won one of his last two fights in outside organizations.

Both fighters have exceptional submission skills. This could cancel out the chance of a ground war and lead to a slugfest. The last time Horn decided to stand and bang he was TKO’ d by "The Iceman" in a 4 round war at UFC 54 in August of 2005. Either way it should be a very exciting fight.

UFC 81 will air live on PPV on February 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The Jeremy Horn vs Nate Marquardt fight will make the televised card.