MMA: Bobby Lashley vs. James Ott Headline Titan Fighting Championships 17

Originally scheduled to fight James Jack, WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Bobby Lashley (5-1) will now be taking on James Ott (8-7).

Titan Fighting Championship officials announced the fight today, which be headlining TFC 17 on March 25.

"We had an agreement with Jack to fight Lashley, but he's essentially gone MIA," said Titan Fighting CEO Joe Kelly.  "James missed several scheduled media shoots and no longer was returning our calls. It became abundantly clear that James had no intention of showing up to fight Bobby on March 25, so we had to make a change."

Lashley hasn't fought since losing to Chad Griggs in August. The fight was waved off before the start of the third round, and Lashley received the first loss of his MMA career.

Ott, who regularly fights in the middleweight division at 185 pounds, will be fighting at his walk-around weight of 225. He has also fought in the light-heavyweight division, but will be facing an opponent considerably larger than anyone he has ever fought.

"John might be a little heavy for the fight, but the extra weight he is carrying is all muscle," said Kelly. "From a pure strength standpoint, he will be able to go in and compete with Bobby. His strong amateur-wrestling credentials will also potentially allow him to neutralize Bobby's takedowns and force the fight to stay on the feet."

Also on the card will be UFC and Strikeforce veteran Phil Baroni (13-13). After dropping two fights in his return to the UFC, Baroni quickly signed with TFC two weeks after he was released from his contract. His opponent for this fight will be Nick Nolte (3-2).

Abe Wagner (8-3) also makes a quick return to the cage after a 32-second knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. He takes on Aaron Rosa (15-3). Rosa is on a three-fight win streak after losing to Rafael Cavalcante in 2009.