Carl (photo via Bellator.com)

By FCF Staff

In the wake of Tyrone Spong not being available to fight at World Series of Fighting 3 due to visa issues, the promotion has announced that a welterweight fight between Tyson Steele and Steve Carl is the new co-headliner.

Spong was originally set to fight Angel DeAnda at the June 14th event, which will be hosted by the The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

Steele (10-1) has won four straight bouts and is coming off a stoppage win over Gregor Gracie at WSOF 1 in October.

Carl (19-3), meanwhile, has won five fights in a row and tapped out Ramico Blackmon in his last outing, which was also at WSOF 1.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to replace the original co-main event with a matchup between two of MMA’s fastest rising stars who are both on course to become future champions,” World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion Ray Sefo was quoted saying in a press release from the promotion.  “Losing Tyrone from this card is unfortunate, but our fighters need to prepare sufficiently to compete at this level, and we are certainly not going to take any shortcuts or try to rush a matchup if one or both fighters are not ready to compete.  We will move forward and look forward to seeing Tyrone back in the World Series of Fighting cage very soon.”

The promotion has also confirmed that Jacob Volkmann (15-4) will fight lightweight Lyle Beerbohm (21-2) at the event. The UFC vet Volkmann announced the bout recently.

WSOF 3 will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network and will feature Jon Fitch taking on welterweight Josh Burkman in the main event.