With original opponent Shane Carwin receiving a UFC heavyweight title shot, Affliction and IFL veteran Ben Rothwell will step in for him and take on heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez in the co-headlining bout of UFC 104.

Velasquez's original opponent Shane Carwin was scratched from the event in favor of a showdown with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 106 in November.

Rothwell was originally set to take on Chase Gormley on the preliminary portion of the UFC 104 event, which would have been a reset of their original meeting at the recently canceled Affliction "Trilogy" event. There has been no word yet on Gormley's fait.

Velasquez is coming off an impressive win over division contender Cheick Kongo at UFC 99 in June. He is now a perfect 4-0 in the UFC, with other wins over Brad Morris, Jake O'Brien and Denis Stojnic. Velasquez has put together a perfect 6-0 record in his young MMA career, with 5 of his wins coming via TKO.

Rothwell (30-6) hasn't fought since defeating Chris Guillen at Adrenaline MMA 2 last December and is now 14-1 in his last 15 bouts. His only loss during the span came against Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: "Banned" last July. Prior to the loss, Rothwell went a perfect 9-0 in the now-defunct IFL promotion, with big wins over Krzysztof Soszynski(2x), Roy Nelson and Ricco Rodriguez. The eight-year veteran of the sport has finished 28 of his 30 career wins, including 17 by TKO or KO.

UFC 104 takes place on October 24 in Los Angeles, California and will be headlined by a light-heavyweight title bout between current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 104 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!