After both of them lost their previous opponents for WEC 46 due to injury, bantamweights Eddie Wineland and George Roop have now been matched up against each other for the preliminary portion of the January event. News of the bout was first reported by the The Northwest Indiana Times.

Roop was set to make his WEC debut at the event against Jesse Moreng, however, Moreng was forced off of the event with an undisclosed injury. Wineland's original WEC 46 opponent, Rafael Rebello, also withdrew from the event with an undisclosed injury.

Wineland (15-6-1) is coming off of an impressive win over Manny Tapia at WEC 43 in October. The win moved him to 3-1 in his last four bouts, with his only loss over that stretch coming in his previous bout against Rani Yahya at WEC 40 in April. Wineland has put together a 2-2 WEC record, becoming the first-ever WEC bantamweight champion by defeating Antonio Banuelos. However, he went on to lose the belt to Chase Beebe in his only title defense.

Wineland has competed for other prominent organizations over his six-year career such as Shooto, HOOKnSHOOT, Total Fight Challenge and Extreme Challenge. He has finished 13 of his 15 career wins and holds other notable career wins over the likes of Jason Tabor, Dan Swift and John Hosman.

Roop (10-5) most recently competed as a featherweight at Rage in the Cage 137 on Nov. 14, where he defeated Matt Dell via unanimous decision. Prior to the win, he was released from the UFC following his loss against George Sotiropoulos at UFC 101 on August 8. He exited the UFC with a 1-2 record, notching his lone Octagon win over David Kaplan at UFC 98 in May, while suffering a loss in his UFC debut against Shane Nelson at TUF 8 Finale.

Roop started his UFC career as a cast member on the eighth season of The Ulimtate Fighter, where was a member of Team Mir, going 2-1 during the season, defeating Roli Delgado and John Polakowski, and losing to the eventual lightweight runner-up, Phillipe Nover.

Roop has fought most of his three-year career with Rage in the Cage, fighting 10 of his 15 career bouts with the promotion. He has finished half of his 10 career wins and holds a notable career victory over Strikeforce and PFC veteran Tito Jones.

WEC 46 takes place on Jan. 10 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., and is headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and interim title holder Ben Henderson. Also, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber will take on rising contender Raphael Assuncao in the co-main event.