Sanchez, Reljic injured and out of UFC 90

LAS VEGAS — Welterweight Diego Sanchez has dropped out of his UFC 90 bout with Thiago Alves due to torn rib cartilage and will be replaced by Josh Koscheck at the Oct. 25 card in Chicago, the UFC said Monday.

"''Hats off to Josh and Thiago, as not many fighters would agree to a matchup this tough on such short notice," UFC president Dana White said in a statement.

Alves (21-4), coming off an impressive win over former title-holder Matt Hughes at UFC 85, had said he had been told the winner of his fight with Sanchez would get a shot at UFC champion Georges St. Pierre. It's unclear whether that is still in play.

"Josh Koscheck is a great fighter and I think he's an even better matchup for me," Alves said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to fighting him, and I'm going to knock him out."

Koscheck (13-2) has defeated Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle already in 2008.

Unbeaten Croatian middleweight Goran Reljic is also out of UFC 90 because of a back problem. He will be replaced by Drew McFedries (7-3) in a bout against Thales Leites.

The main event of the Chicago card pits Montreal middleweight Patrick Cote against champion Anderson Silva of Brazil.