Karalexis hurt, fight with Pettis off WEC 43 card

Alex Karalexis, a contestant on Season 1 of "The Ultimate Fighter," has been injured and forced out of his fight with Anthony Pettis on next month's WEC 43 card according to a report at WEC.tv.

Karalexis (10-4, 4-2 WEC, 1-2 UFC) last fought in March at WEC 39, where he ended a two-fight skid with a TKO win over Greg McIntyre. Pettis, who fights out of Milwaukee, is unbeaten at 7-0 and is one of the WEC's top prospects in the lightweight division. He won his debut with the promotion at WEC 41 in Sacramento in June.

According to the WEC's official site, Pettis will apparently not get a replacement, leaving WEC 43 with 10 fights for its inaugural visit to Ohio. WEC 43 takes place at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, about one hour between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

WEC 43 is headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Ben "Smooth" Henderson. Also on the undercard of the event, Chesterton's Eddie Wineland returns to the cage for the first time since WEC 40 in Chicago with a bantamweight fight against Manny Tapia. Wineland is the WEC's former bantamweight champion.

WEC 43's main card can be seen live on the Versus cable network at 8 p.m. Central time on Sept. 2. Tickets for the event are still available at WEC.tv or Ticketmaster.com.

In addition to the 10 fights on the card, WEC 43 will feature a fan Q&A session with former UFC heavyweight champion and WEC color commentator Frank Mir, former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver and former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber after the weigh-ins on Sept. 1, which are free and open to the public. And on Wednesday, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, one of the most popular fighters in MMA history, will sign autographs in the concourse for fans attending WEC 43.