Takashi Sato Replaces Claudio Silva, Meets Gunnar Nelson at UFC London on March 19

Takashi Sato has agreed to step in and replace the injured Claudio Silva and face Gunnar Nelson at UFC London.

ESPN was first to report the new welterweight booking. UFC Fight Night 204 takes place at the O2 Arena in London is currently scheduled to be headlined by a heavyweight clash between Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov.

A veteran of the Pancrase and Deep organizations, Sato is 2-2 in UFC competition. The 31-year-old Tokyo native will compete for the first time since November 2020, when he suffered a second-round submission defeat to Miguel Baeza at UFC on ESPN 18.

Nelson will be making his first appearance since September 2019, when he fell to Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 160. The 33-year-old Iceland native has lost three of four promotion appearances after beginning his UFC tenure with a 7-2 mark.