UFC newcomer Greg Soto will step in for the injured Ricardo Funch, and face The Ultimate Fighter season 7 cast member Matt Riddle on the unaired preliminary portion of UFC 111 on March 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

News of the change was first reported by MMAjunkie.com, and MMAWeekly.com has since revealed that Funch was forced off of the card after he suffered a large cut on his foot. The injury required stitches and will sideline him for several weeks.

Funch (7-1) was dealt his first career loss in his last bout, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Johny Hendricks at December's UFC 107 event in his UFC debut.

Soto, a student of UFC lightweight Kurt Pellegrino, is coming off of an impressive win over Riddle's Arizona Combat Sports teammate Ray Steinbeiss at an Extreme Beatdown event in October. The Ring of Combat veteran has put together an undefeated 7-0 MMA record since making his pro debut in September 2006, with five of his wins coming by stoppage.

Riddle (3-1) suffered the first loss of his young career in his last bout, when he was defeated by TUF 9 alum Nick Osipczak at UFC 105 in November. Prior to the loss, he won the first three bouts of his career, with all three coming in the UFC via unanimous decisions over Dan Cramer at UFC 101, Steve Bruno at UFC Fight Night 17 and Dante Rivera in his official MMA debut at TUF 7 Finale.

UFC 111 will feature a championship double-header, including a headlining UFC welterweight title bout between champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy. In addition, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin will battle it out for the interim heavyweight title.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 111 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!