Heavyweight contenders Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez were to meet in the card’s main event, which was announced just last week, but Nogueira was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a severe staph infection in his left elbow, the same injury suffered prior to his matchup with Frank Mir at UFC 92 last December.

Following initial treatment in his native Brazil, Nogueria is currently receiving medical care in San Diego and will require treatment for at least three weeks.

With Nogueira sidelined, Velasquez is not expected to fight at UFC 108 and may instead take on Shane Carwin in February or March with an interim title potentially on the line as title-holder Brock Lesnar is out indefinitely with an undisclosed illness.

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Pictured: Rashad Evans

The UFC also confirmed that Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva will co-headline the pay-per-view event.

“Nogueira vs. Velasquez is a great matchup between the present and the future of the heavyweight division,” said UFC President Dana White in a press release announcing the card. “Nogueira showed in the Couture fight that he still has plenty left to offer at the top level of the game, and Velasquez was devastating in his win over Ben Rothwell, so with both guys in top form, we’re definitely going to see a number one contender emerge from this fight to take on the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin title fight.”

Tickets for the event, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, are priced between $50 and $600 and go on sale to the general public this Saturday, November 14 through Ticketmaster.com.

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(Click image for higher resolution)

Evans (13-1-1), following 12-straight wins to begin his career over the likes of Michael Bisping and Chuck Liddell, won the UFC light heavyweight championship last December with a third-round knockout of Forrest Griffin. In his first title defense, Evans was knocked out by Lyoto Machida in May before appearing with “Rampage” as rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights.

“Thiago Silva is a good fighter, I’d like to fight him and I think he wants to fight me. When I saw him after he fought Keith Jardine, he kind of gave me a nasty look that I interpreted like he wanted to take me on, and I’d like that,” Evans told Fanhouse. “I think I match up really well with Thiago Silva. He’s a great striker, and I love his focus. He’s going to be a challenge, and that’s the kind of fight I want.”

After 4-straight UFC wins improved his career mark to 13-0, Silva (14-1) was matched up against fellow 205-pound contender Lyoto Machida in January but suffered a first-round knockout that propelled Machida into winning the light heavyweight belt from Evans. Silva bounced back last month at UFC 102 with a first-round knockout of Keith Jardine,

The matchup between Evans and Silva is the first rumored for the UFC’s tradition year-end card, which takes place this year on January 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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Shivers attacks early with punches and gets McSweeny to the canvas, but McSweeny escapes back to his feet and goes to work with low kicks on his fatigued opponent. After wearing Shivers down with kicks and punches, McSweeny wobbles him with a combo late in the second and grabs a guillotine following a desperation takedown but is unable to finish Shivers off. A third round appears likely, but the judges have reached a decision and declare McSweeny the winner by majority decision, improving Team Rashad to 2-0 in the opening round.

The official result of the second opening round bout was:

• James McSweeney def. Wes Shivers via majority decision (19-19, 20-18, 20-18)

The episode closes with Rashad Evans choosing Team Rampage’s Kimbo Slice to fight former IFL champ Roy Nelson in the next opening round bout.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com each Wednesday for a recap of The Ultimate Fighter 10 leading up to the December 5 TUF 10 Finale.

The release went on to say that,

“The Spike TV telecast bested all competition on television in the advertiser-coveted demographics of Men 18-34, M18-49, M18-24, M25-34 including the highly-promoted network originals “The Jay Leno Show,” “America’s Got Talent” season finale, “Glee,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and the premiere of “Beautiful Life.”

Overall, the record-breaking Spike TV telecast drew a 5.3 rating (1.5 million) in Men 18-34, a 4.3 in M18-49 (2.4 million), a 2.9 household rating and 4.1 million total viewers.

“The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” features top light heavyweights Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches. The roster of fighter vying for the title of “The Ultimate Fighter” includes notable veteran Roy Nelson, internet sensation Kimbo Slice, as well as a handful of former NFL players.

“Thanks to [expletive] B.A. Baracus, I couldn’t [expletive] pull it off,” White said. “B.A. [expletive] me. The collateral damage that was done by him doing this thing was unbelievable.”

“You have no idea how much collateral damage was done by [Jackson] pulling out of this thing. It literally screwed up the rest of our year. We’ve got B.J. Penn fighting in Memphis, you know what I mean?”

“What happens is, [Jackson] calls up and says he’s doing this movie. I said, ‘No, you’re not. You’re going to fight Rashad in December. You do whatever you want to do after this fight. You want to retire and become an actor? You want to join the monastery? I don’t care what you do after this fight, but ‘Rampage,’ you’re going to fight this fight.’

“He said, ‘OK.’ Then he had his manager fly in from England and met me at the hangar before I was leaving to go out of town to tell me that he wasn’t going to (fight Evans). [Rampage] and I haven’t talked since.”

White and Jackson will hopefully settle their differences, and we will get to see Jackson and Evans inside the Octagon in the near future. However, the ripple effect caused by one man pulling out of a fight shows how fragile the plans for a major MMA promotion can be.

Before a two-hour training session gets underway to allow the coaches to assess the fighters, “Rampage” makes it clear that he intends to take Slice with his first pick to the delight of Evans, who wins a coin toss and opts to take James McSweeney with the top overall pick, while Slice and the first fight selection go to Jackson.

The coaches continue to alternate picks until all 16 fighters are drafted and their teams are set:

TEAM RASHAD

• James McSweeney
• Brendan Schaub
• Justin Wren
• John Madsen
• Roy Nelson
• Darrill Schoonover
• Matt Matrione
• Mike Wessel

TEAM RAMPAGE

• Kimbo Slice
• Abe Wagner
• Demico Rogers
• Wes Sims
• Scott Junk
• Wes Shivers
• Marcus Jones
• Zak Jensen

After a training session for each team, “Rampage” announces the first matchup as Abe Wagner will take on Team Rashad’s John Madsen.

The fight is quickly underway as Madsen scores an early takedown and sets the pace for the rest of the fight before opening up a deep gash on Wagner’s forehead that pours blood. Madsen maintains the top position for the remainder of the round while offering little offense and cruises into the second round, while Wagner is surprisingly cleared to continue. Madsen again gets a takedown early in round two and, despite several standups due to a lack of action and little offense from Madsen, he’s able to control a tired Wagner on the ground to ride out an easy decision win, with the judges handing down scores of 20-16, 20-17, and 20-17.

The official result of the first opening round bout was:

• John Madsen def. Abe Wagner via unanimous decision (20-16, 20-17, 20-17)

After the decision is announced by UFC President Dana White, who calls the bout the bloodiest in TUF history, Wagner’s gruesome cut is shown being tended to by a doctor as the Team Rampage fighter asks whether he can see his skull.

The episode concludes with Jackson telling his team not to touch gloves followed by a preview of the rest of the season, including more spats between the rival coaches and an outburst by “Rampage” that sees him destroy a gym door.

Here’s how the teams look after Team Rashad took a 1-0 lead on the debut of TUF 10:

TEAM RASHAD

• James McSweeney
• Brendan Schaub
• Justin Wren
• John Madsen (1-0)
• Roy Nelson
• Darrill Schoonover
• Matt Matrione
• Mike Wessel

TEAM RAMPAGE

• Kimbo Slice
• Abe Wagner
  Eliminated by John Madsen on Episode 1
• Demico Rogers
• Wes Sims
• Scott Junk
• Wes Shivers
• Marcus Jones
• Zak Jensen

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com each Wednesday for a recap of The Ultimate Fighter 10 leading up to the December 5 TUF 10 Finale.

The role, which was portrayed by Mr. T in the 1980s series, will prevent Jackson from fighting Rashad Evans in the co-main event of UFC 107 on December 12, according to MMA Bay, which is known to have close ties to Jackson’s Wolfslair camp.

Jackson and Evans will appear as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 10, which is set to debut on September 16 on Spike TV featuring heavyweight Kimbo Slice, and were scheduled to meet at the pay-per-view event in Jackson’s hometown, but the recently-announced lightweight championship matchup between title-holder BJ Penn and challenger Diego Sanchez will instead top the card, while Jackson-Evans is rescheduled for early-2010 so Jackson can complete a full camp for the fight after filming for the movie concludes.

Jackson (30-7) passed on a title shot against Lyoto Machida earlier this year following back-to-back victories over Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine, instead opting for a second stint as a coach on the UFC’s reality series and showdown with fellow contender and former champion Evans.

Evans (13-1-1), is also familiar with TUF, appearing as a heavyweight on the second season of the show, suffered a second-round knockout to Machida in his most-recent bout in May. He was previously undefeated in 14 career fights with notable wins over Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and Forrest Griffin.

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Pictured: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Details on the bout were first confirmed by Jackson in a recent YouTube video and the UFC’s Marc Ratner tells MMAjunkie that the pay-per-view event will take place on December 12 or 19 at the 19,000-seat FedEx Forum in Memphis.

Jackson passed on a title shot against Lyoto Machida following back-to-back victories over Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine, instead opting for a second stint as a coach on the UFC’s reality series and an eventual top-contender showdown with Evans, with whom he had an in-octagon verbal confrontation with in March following a unanimous decision win over Jardine.

Evans, who is also familiar with TUF, appearing as a heavyweight on the second season of the show, suffered a second-round knockout to Machida in his most-recent bout in May. He was previously undefeated in 14 career fights with wins over Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and Forrest Griffin.

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[Pictured: Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans]