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Amir Sadollah shrugs off two opponent changes, prepares for UFC Fight Night 24

With Duane Ludwig and James Wilks both out, DaMarques Johnson takes spot in the octagon

Amir Sadollah Workout

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

UFC fighter Amir Sadollah works out at Xtreme Couture March 8, 2011.

Amir Sadollah Workout

UFC fighter Amir Sadollah works out at Xtreme Couture March 8, 2011. Launch slideshow »

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As of this moment, Las Vegas welterweight Amir Sadollah is scheduled to line up against DaMarques Johnson on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle.

With the way things have gone leading up to this bout for Sadollah, it’s dangerous to pencil in any opponent for sure. Johnson is the third fighter announced to take on Sadollah.

The first two had to pull out after suffering injuries.

“It’s obviously unexpected, but it’s part of the game,” Sadollah said. “It’s something that happens.”

UFC originally slated Duane Ludwig for a fight with Sadollah on the televised main card, which airs via tape delay at 10 p.m. Saturday on Spike. Ludwig hurt his sternum during training and pulled off of the card less than three weeks ago.

Sadollah, who trains at Xtreme Couture, said he was about halfway through game planning for Ludwig when James Wilks took his spot. The matchup had some buzz, as it was two former winners of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Sadollah won the seventh season of UFC’s reality show, while Wilks triumphed in the ninth season.

But, lo and behold, Wilks injured his knee last week. His replacement was the man he beat to win the “TUF” title in Johnson, who finished as the runner-up on the ninth season. Sadollah did his best to remain unflappable through it all.

“One thing I enjoyed about being on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ was it prepared you for that,” Sadollah said. “You had to fight on short notice or fight on a few days notice.”

It also taught Sadollah how to fight without undergoing significant study sessions. Although he said he would take advantage of the career documentation provided by “TUF,” he doesn’t stress too much over what he sees on an opponent’s film.

“I’m not the type of guy that pores over tape and analyzes it,” Sadollah said. “I get a more general feeling or an idea of what someone likes to do and what they don’t.”

Johnson is the same way — for this fight, anyway. Johnson was back home in Salt Lake City working out two months after his submission victory over Mike Guymon at UFC: Fight For The Troops 2 card when he got the call from UFC brass about Sadollah last week.

He agreed to the short-notice bout before even hearing who it was against.

“At two weeks notice, it really doesn’t give you much time to prepare and analyze,” Johnson said after he stepped in for Wilks, “so I’m fighting a guy named Amir Sadollah, and that’s about all I know.”

Everyone in mixed martial arts is at least somewhat familiar with Sadollah, though. He fought through a deep field of welterweights on “TUF” before emerging as an underdog champion by beating current UFC fighter C.B. Dollaway twice.

But Sadollah’s prospect status took a hit when Johny Hendricks knocked him out in less than a minute in his first post-reality show fight at UFC 101. Sadollah rebounded by scoring impressive unanimous decision victories against Phil Baroni and Brad Blackburn before running into Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 114 last year.

Kim turned the bout into a wrestling match and won by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring it 30-27.

“There was a lot I didn’t do well,” Sadollah said. “I just have done all I can do to correct things since then. It’s not an overnight thing. It’s not a light switch to fix, but it’s a constant evolution to stay on a productive path.”

Sadollah has looked like he’s back on the right path since the loss. He beat Peter Sobotta at UFC 122 in Germany after spending a month training in Holland, the home country of his striking coach Marco van den Broek.

Johnson is the next step in getting back near the top of the 170-pound division for Sadollah. That’s as long as Johnson doesn’t come down with a freak injury in the next two days, which given recent events isn’t out of the question.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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