Figueroa Injured, Ken Stone Now Faces ‘Cisco’ Rivera at UFC on FX 4

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Injuries continue to alter the UFC on FX 4 landscape, as promotion officials recently announced that Edwin Figueroa will not fight Ken Stone at the June 22 event.

Stepping up to replace Figueroa will be hard-punching Californian Francisco Rivera, who has verbally agreed to face Stone, according to the UFC’s official statement. UFC on FX 4 takes place at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., and will be headlined by a lightweight confrontation between top talents Clay Guida and Gray Maynard.

Rivera recently returned to the UFC after an unfavorable two-fight stint under the Zuffa umbrella resulted in a pair of defeats. Since falling to Erik Koch in November 2010 and Reuben Duran last June, “Cisco” has righted his ship, posting a pair of quick knockouts over Brad McDonald and Antonio Duarte in the Tachi Palace Fights cage before answering the call to replace Azamat Gashimov at UFC on Fuel TV 3. Rivera dominated Alex Soto at the May 15 event, cruising to a unanimous decision.

Stone also looks to maintain his momentum after earning his first UFC win. After suffering back-to-back knockouts at the hands of Eddie Wineland and Scott Jorgensen, the 29-year-old rebounded with a victory to close out last year, finishing Donny Walker with a rear-naked choke this past September at Fight Night 25. Stone was expected to return to the Octagon against Mike Easton on Jan. 20 at UFC on FX 1 but withdrew from that bout due to injury.