Undefeated light heavyweight Phil Davis has been forced to withdraw from the UFC 133 main event against former champion Rashad Evans due to a knee injury “Mr. Wonderful” recently suffered less than a month before the August 6 pay-per-view event in Philadelphia.
The news was first reported late Tuesday by MMAFighting.
Davis (9-0) opened his UFC career with five straight victories, with his most recent win coming by unanimous decision over Antonio Rogerio Noguiera in March. Evans (15-1-1) has not seen Octagon action since defeating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by unanimous decision at UFC 114 in May of last year.
Lyoto Machida is rumored to be the front-runner to step in and rematch Evans at UFC 133, with the UFC is expected to announce Davis’ injury and the new main event for UFC 133 as soon as Tuesday night.
For complete UFC 133 coverage stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
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Machida …..
This makes the most sense, and he is the only legitimate light heavy available right now without a fight signed coming up. The winner would be in a good spot to face the winner of Bones v Rampage. If the UFC puts Tito in there against Evans as Davis’ replacement, yeah, somewhat interesting, but not relevant in the division. On the other hand, Machida is a handful for Evans, and I hope Evans is able to figure out Machida’s timing and elusiveness, and not get knocked out again. Tough fight for Evans if Machida is the replacement, but a much better main event for the fans IMO. Not knocking Davis here, he’s coming along nicely. Damn, I wish I lived in Philly still!
I think Tito would be just as relevant as Phil Davis, but Machida does make more since. But honestly both of them are both coming off single wins followed by multiple losses which would be too risky to fight Rashad on 3 weeks notice.
@sempeckx2 Tito has won 1 fight in what 5 years. Phil Davis is 9-0 and 5-0 in the UFC. I think Davis is way more relevant than Tito. I was looking forward to seeing Davis and Evans fight even more so than Machida and Evans
But yeah, Machida was the first name that came to mind as well. And I was about to say Rashad would not / should not fight him on three weeks notice, but Wikipedia has already put up an updated card for UFC 133 and it has Rashad vs. Machida, so that’s got to be official, right? I mean if you can’t trust Wikipedia then who can you trust*?
*sarcasm
I was thinking Machida also but with less than 3 weeks i HIGHLY doubt it. O well i guess Franklin or the Vitor fight will have to suffice
Injuries make me sad…..
I know Evans is BEYOND PISSED
u gotta b kidding!! this seems to b happenin more and more often.
The UFC have only themselves to blame 4 this 1. I remember after the Lil Nog fight he said he wanted to take some time off to heal some nagging injuries but the UFC needed him so right back to training he went now he’s officially hurt. Who knows if this was the injury he wanted to heal up with just simple rest.
TITO!!!!
This is supposed to be like a match for the #1 contender, so as good as Tito’s knockout was, I wouldn’t say it was like “one win away from a title match” good…
just announced!!!!! its Machida!!!!!
@only67
Where did u hear that it was announced?
I wanna see vitor vs rashad
Aw phooey!
Tito wants Rashad because he beat Reshad the 1st time but got docked a point! He would be sooo pumped it would make a great fight then if Reshad wins he gets Bones if Tito wins he gets Forrest-Machida winner
You mean forrest-shogun winner?
I just figured it out – bump Lil’ Nog up to face Rashad and then Rich Franklin can fight Tito.
There. Problem solved.
Machida is replacing Davis. But thats short notice for rashad. If Rashad uses fast hands and wrestling he can win and fight Jones/Rampage.
That’s plenty of time for a guy like rampage. But I don’t see why machida would take it. He’s not back in title contention imo even after 2 wins in a row. Coutoure was one foot out the door and probably half a$$ trained for his fight. It was silly not the same randy so machida name shouldn’t.be in the mix yet for the #2 lhw
Mike chiaPpeta said via twitter that Tito got the call to fight Evans but turned it down…
Tito was offered the fight first and said “no” according to Dana White
dude shut up about tito….tito has lost all his fights and wins a fight against one fighter who got demolished by a real fighter….please tito doesnt deserve the fight and just say he one he doesnt deservre a title fight either…please…machida would make more sense .might as well say sonnen deserves a shot for blowing and choking agianst anderson….tito is a baby and only fights people he is sure he is going to beat…and what is sad he loses lol!he is a selective fighter and doesnt want to fight anybody unless he approves he is a coward
@notorious joe
Spoken like a true hater..I am not sure who you are telling to shut up but you did post under me..
Tito Ortiz is relevant again..at least for now..so get over it
My bad I thought Machida fought forest lol! And we all see NOW that Tito is selective but like a week or 2 ago he said he would welcome a fight with Rashad so until today he isn’t selective! But yeah with my new info Machida was obviously best choice… Who wins this rematch is the question?
From the Twitterverse:
- Tito Ortz turned down the fight, mostly because he’s been understandably partying his a$$ off since scoring his first win in half a decade.
Ortiz may deny it, but others in the know have Tweeted that Ortiz is definitely in Liddell mode.
;-)
- Lyoto Machida hasn’t accepted or declined the fight as if yet.
No one seems sure what the hang-up is, but I would think Machida would like some sort of next fight/title shot assurance if he beats Evans.
And to make sure he doesn’t wind up on some free-per-view undercard if he doesn’t, seeing as how he’s doing the org a solid.
Also, those of you who for some reason are STILL disrespecting Tito Ortiz should bear in mind that Ortiz was Dana White’s FIRST choice to replace Phil Davis.
If DW, who’s POV is really the only one that matters, had shared the POV of some here that Ortiz wasn’t relevent, was a loser, was a baby, picks and chooses his opponents, blahblahblah…he wouldn’t have been El Hefe’s first call to step in.
Something to maybe think about moving forward when we discuss Tito Ortiz…
@jcohl
“Tito Ortz turned down the fight, mostly because he’s been understandably partying his a$$ off since scoring his first win in half a decade.”
That was my exact first thought when hearing that Tito turned down the fight
@jcohl and @Dan82523
I’d say “Rick Story” Syndrome might have something to do with it, too. It’s probably for the best that Tito is in BeerFest mode right now. The last thing he needs is a swift defeat to erase the collective’s memory of his last big win and get shuffled back to the middle of the deck…
More than likely because he just had a fight 11 days ago, and after including his mandatory medical suspension, likely would only have about three weeks to train for Rashad. Plus make weight. At his age, that’s no easy feat. I don’t blame him at all.
rashad is ass out if machida takes this fight. i imagine he is wondereing how his luck got so bad
This is the way I see it… Machida vs Evans and the winner gets the Bones/Rampage winner. I would make a Tito vs Davis tussle when Mr. Wonderful I good to go. Winner of that fight could take on the Forrest/Shogun winner for the next title shot. Before everyone gets their panties in a bunch over me including Tito in any kind of possible title scenario, realize that if he were to get a title shot he would be coming off three straights win vs Bader, Davis and Griffen or Rua. As you could tell I had a lot of free time to brew this in my brain…. just what I would like to see.
Machida is in!
machida, i totally stoked :) i like watching him fight any body
Offical UFC page on facebook just announced Tito is fighting Rashad