UFC 156 Injury: Tyron Woodley Replaces Erick Silva

The UFC's first pay-per-view of the new year got bit by the injury bug today as it was announced Erick Silva was forced off the UFC 156 card.

Stepping up with a month's notice will be the former Strikeforce veteran, Tyron Woodley.

Woodley compiled an 8-1 record inside the Strikeforce cage with his only loss coming against the talented Nate Marquardt on July 14 of last year.

The news was released today by the UFC with the following tweet, which also mentioned another injury hitting the UFC on FX 7 card:

Woodley isn't known as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, but he does rank high in consistency. Fans know they are going to see a guy go in there and try to wrestle his opponent to the ground to grind out a victory.

With the fight being taken on short notice, the chances of Woodley trying to utilize that game plan are even greater.

The initial buzz from around the MMA community is that of disappointment for the Silva injury as many were looking forward to seeing how he would bounce back from his recent loss to Jon Fitch.

Woodley's opponent at UFC 156 will be Jay Hieron. Hieron is coming off a loss of his own to Jake Ellenberger in what was a hard-fought unanimous decision defeat this past October.

At 36 years of age with a 0-3 UFC record, Hieron needs a win against Woodley in the worst way.

Woodley vs. Hieron is part of a stacked PPV card that also features Jon Fitch vs. Demian Maia, Alistair Overeem taking on Antonio Silva, Rashad Evans battling Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and headlined by Jose Algo against Frankie Edgar.

UFC 156 takes place February 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.