A knee injury has forced former Bellator featherweight champ Pat Curran (21-7 MMA, 11-4 BMMA) out of next month’s Bellator 145 event, and Emmanuel Sanchez (11-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) has stepped in on short notice to face Justin Lawrence (8-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA).

MMAjunkie today confirmed the switch with a person with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss such matters. An official announcement from Bellator is expected shortly.

Sanchez and Lawrence meet on the main card of “Bellator 145: Vengeance,” which takes place Nov. 6 at St. Louis’ Scottrade Center and airs live on Spike. Preliminary bouts precede the main card and stream on MMAjunkie.

A timetable for Curran’s return wasn’t immediately established.

“El Matador” Sanchez, also 25, is 7-1 in his past eight outings, with the lone loss coming to Curran by decision this past June. Sanchez bounced back with a September victory over fellow prospect Henry Corrales and now boasts a 3-1 record in the promotion.

A former cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter 15,” Lawrence made his Bellator debut in June, scoring a first-rounf TKO win over Sean Wilson. While back-to-back losses to Daniel Pineda and Max Holloway saw him ushered out of the UFC, he’s since won four consecutive matchups. The 25-year-old featherweight recently relocated to Arizona’s Power MMA camp.

With the change to the card, the Bellator 145 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET)

Champ Patricio Freire vs. Daniel Straus – for featherweight title Champ Will Brooks vs. Marcin Held – for lightweight title Justin Lawrence vs. Emmanuel Sanchez Michael Chandler vs. David Rickels Bobby Lashley vs. James Thompson

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 7 p.m. ET)

Alex Huddleston vs. Augusto Sakai Adam Cella vs. Cheljean Erwin-Davis Garrett Gross vs. Luke Nelson Steven Mann vs. Hugh Pulley Vince Eazelle vs. Chris Heatherly Kevin Engel vs. Kyle Kurtz Clay Mitchell vs. Kain Royer Jordan Dowdy vs. Adam Meredith Scott Ettling vs. Garrett Mueller Brandon Lowe vs. Rashard Lovelace

For more on Bellator 145, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.