With his original opponent tapped to coach the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, officials were left trying to find another fight for UFC middleweight Aaron ‘A-Train’ Simpson (8-2). Late Monday evening UFC officials named Simpson’s new opponent as undefeated “TUF 11″ alumni Brad Tavares (7-0) for the upcoming UFC 132 event.

Aaron “A-Train” Simpson has received a new opponent for his UFC 132 bout, Dana White announced today. TUF 11 semi-finalist Brad Tavares has verbally agreed to the middleweight matchup. Tavares’ last fight was at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day, where he TKOd veteran Phil Baroni.

UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber 2 is scheduled to take place on July 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a title bout between bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and former featherweight champ, Urijah Faber. Both fighters will meet on the untelevised preliminary card.

Simpson had been scheduled to face Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller at the event, but ‘Mayhem’ was given a coaching role on the fourteenth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping.

‘A-Train’ is 1-2 in his last three fights, having earned a unanimous decision over Mario Miranda at UFC Fight Night 24 in March. That win ended a two fight losing skid after dropping bouts to Mark Muñoz at UFC 123 in November by unanimous decision, and to Chris Leben at the “TUF 11 Finale” by TKO in June of last year.

Tavares is so far undefeated in his pro-career and is 2-0 in the UFC. His last fight was on January 1, at UFC 125 where he earned a first round knockout over Phil Baroni. Tavares debuted at the “TUF 11 Finale” against rival “TUF 11″ housemate Seth Baczynski, winning the fight by unanimous decision. On the Spike series, Tavares would lose to teammate Court McGee in the semi-finals of the show.

Undefeated Brad Tavares Stepping In Against Aaron Simpson At UFC 132