Longtime Hammer House fighter Branden Lee Hinkle (Pictures) has been forced to withdraw from IFL's May 16 bill in Uncasville, Conn., where he was slated to challenge Roy Nelson (Pictures) for the promotion's heavyweight title.

The 35-year-old Ohioan suffered a painful rib injury, a source within the fighter's camp confirmed to Sherdog.com Friday afternoon.

Filling in for Hinkle will be UFC veteran Brad Imes (Pictures).

Imes, 11-4, will enter the contest winner of six of his last seven bouts, with the lone loss being a controversial split-decision to Anthony Ruiz (Pictures) at PFC 6 back in January.

A native of Sacramento, "The Hillbilly Heartthrob" participated in the second season of Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter," where the 31-year-old claimed two victories before being eliminated by Rashad Evans (Pictures) in the heavyweight final.

Also on the card, a training injury to Brazilian Fabricio Camoes (Pictures) (8-4) has forced the cancellation of his lightweight duel with Jim Miller (11-1).

Still in place for the HDNet-broadcasted event are two other title clashes; as lightweight ace Ryan Schultz (Pictures) (19-9-1) will put his crown on the line against Deividas Taurosevicius (Pictures) (9-2), and Ryan McGivern (Pictures) (12-5) will attempt to defend his middleweight belt against Dan Miller (Pictures) (7-1, 1 NC).

Undercard
Frank Latina (Pictures) vs. John Franchi (Pictures)
Aaron Stark (Pictures) vs. Lamont Lister (Pictures)
John Howard vs. Nick Calandrino
Zac George (Pictures) vs. Josh Souder
Matt Horwich (Pictures) vs. Joey Guel (Pictures)
Danillo Villefort vs. Mike Massenzio