Phil Davis forced out of UFC 133 Headliner due to Injury (Updated)
Posted on July 12, 2011, 09:12 PM by Joey Santosus
Light Heavyweight contender Phil Davis has reportedly been forced to pull out of his upcoming UFC 133 match-up with Rashad Evans after suffering a knee injury.
Sources tell MMAFighting.com that the promotion is expected to announce both the injury, as well as the event's new headlining bout shortly.
Davis (9-0) was looking to position himself for a shot at the division title with what would have been his sixth straight UFC win if victorious. In his latest outing, the Alliance MMA fighter scored his biggest victory to date, outworking veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira en-route to a unanimous decision win at UFC Fight Night 24.
Evans (15-1-1), meanwhile, finds himself without an opponent once again following a string of canceled bouts and delayed title fights. The former champ has been inactive since May of last year, when he defeated Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 114.
UFC 133 is set to take place August 6th from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While there has not yet been word on the card's new headlining bout, the co-main event will feature a Light Heavyweight scrap between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
Update:
Reports indicating that former Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida is being targeted as a replacement opponent for Rashad Evans have, in fact, been confirmed. However, according to Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com, Tito Ortiz was offered and has refused the fight, while Machida has yet to give a definitive answer.
Keep it locked on LowKick.com for more information as it becomes available.
Photo: ProMMANow.com
Comments
Bad news for Rashad... again.
I doubt Rashad will get a title shot straight instead of the Davis fight, even if he does he shouldn't take it. It's going to be about a 500 day lay off since his last fight, that aint good.
The only opponents I can see for him are Machida or Forrest/Shogun winner.
That sucks really looking forward to this fight thought Davis could pull of the upset
why not get mousasi? hes not got a strikeforce titel anymore and he has a fight coming up...id say that fights just as intregueing as davis vs evans. if dana could scoop up diaz then mousasi should be no problem. introduces him to a whole new group of fans aswell?
because most people dont really no who he is or have much interest in him. ive only seen him fight once against King Mo his wrestleing looks weak, he couldnt even beat Jardine no disrespect to the Dean, im a fan. but nether Mo or Jardine are on Rashads level. so Rashad would do one of 2 things he would lose to a guy that not many people have heard of or beat a guy not many people have heard of. thats not a good way to set up a tittle shot.
True but Machida is looking for an opponent and will jump at the chance to fight Evans again since he won the last one easily. That would alos line him up for a shot at jones or Rampage. I think Machida got robbed in The Rampage fight and would really like to see him and Jones fight.
Sounds like the training with Jones payed off.
Rumor is Machida rematch.
Couple stanky legs.
nope Machiada turned it down according to his wife due to not having enough tim to train for the fight and not being guaranteed a title shot if he wins
Evans will fight such a smarter fight than last time and I see him pulling off a GSP style win, boring but smart. You all can disagree, I don't care, we all have our opinions but know one truly knows.
100% agree Evans will fight Machida different then last time and will try to fight a smarter fight, but in the 1rst fight he did try and take him down a few times and failed. Machida has great TDD and in order to be close enough to grab him you're close enough to be hit. my opinion is Machida will keep it on the feet and it will look alot like the first fight, probably a less embarrassing K.O loss for Evans
Ya i think Evans can win that rematch to but with his luck the missed tittle shots so many cancled fights, he'll lose to The Dragon then his next two fights and he'll be gone.
Can't really blame Tito from refusing the fight....Evans is a better wrestler, striker, better Bjj, way quicker and stronger hopefully Machida accepts
Obviously Rashad will, but should Machida get a title shot if he wins? Or should he fight the winner of Shogun/Forrest for a title shot? I feel its a bit early for a thirs Shougn Machida fight.
The way Shogun got dominated I dont even want to see him fight Jones again because it wasnt even competive. Shogun truly got destroyed by Jones and I dont see that changing anytime soon.
That's actually a better headliner. It's unfortunate that Rashad has been on the shelf so long coming into this fight. Hopefully he's ready.
Awesome answer I just dont think he should wait for the winner of Forrest and Shogun because he needs a fight asap.
Apparently Rashad is getting Machida, that will be an interesting fight this second time around.
This is coming from one outlet, but has not been confirmed. It would make the most sense, but the post will only be updated once official.
Yea i've heard from one source its been confirmed and one source says Machida turned down the fight. I hate following so many people on twitter
That would b sick....sadly Evans will lose again
machida isnt going to take the fight. He just did an interview where he said he needs atleast 8 weeks to prep for a possible tito rematch, Evans aint no tito for him hes gonna need atleast 10 weeks
I agree because now the Machida puzzle has been figured out and Rashad might actually fight him this time and not stand in front of him and look stunned by his attack.
In a way is a good thing for Davis , his last fight prove he needs to improve a lot of things , striking and even if his wrestling is his biggest strength it still needs to improve against the top ranked guys at the division like Rashad
Yea I agree with that. I think it's too early for Phil.
I wish him and griffin would rematch. I think that would be a winner gets title shot
Rashad will face machida now, rashad better work on his td or it's gonna be stanky leg part 2, lol
This just in: Evans gets a title shot, but Jones announces that he got injurred while showing Faber "how to boogie" and pulls out of the fight.
machida!
WOW the UFC have had some serious bad luck this year in regard's to injury's to important fights. I am happy that this fight won't happen, I've said on many occasions that Davis is not Jon Jones and I totally disagree with the match making for Davis. The more time he gets to improve his overall skills before he faces guys like Evans, Machida and Rampage will benefit him in the long run and the fans too because we'll see a better more well rounded Davis take the best at 205.
Rashad had a silly game plan against Machida first time around. I doubt he'll make the same mistake twice. That is if he's fighting Machida.
evans vs machida 2 would be an awesome fight rashad will hopefully come in with a better game plan def think he will try to grind out a decision by holding machida down that is if he can get him down that will be the biggest factor in the fight
machida by murder
Stanky Leg first blood: PART 2
This one of those times that Dana should call in one of the Strikeforce fighters like Mousasi or King Mo.
I think If Dana keeps Rashad out any longer it could hurt Rashad's contention for the Belt and only push further ring rust on Him.
I bet Dana is pissed off right about now, hes had to re-do about 4 main event fights just in the last 6 months. Man I bet doing this costs his business a small fortune.
The real problem is that these fighters over-train themselves and get hurt, so by doing this they loose opportunities and guess what its too bad for Phil cause he's gonna be at the end of a shit storm if this fight doesn't pan out.
That's a title they could use if the fight were put together.
But yeah if Tito and Machida wont do this, who else can the UFC get in the lhw division to fight Evans (that's high ranked or popular)? situation sucks for Evans, seems to get further from a title shot without even losing.
The only reasonable people I could see replacing Davis are Machida, Bonnar, Hamill, Matyushenko, Ortiz or Soszynski. To be honest, it'd be nice to have Griffin or Rua pull out of UFC 134 to replace Davis, but I don't want that to happen.
They could get Little Nog or Franklin to replace him, but that would just leave the question of who will replace those guys.
Haven't been this bummed out since Marquardt vs. Johnson was snubbed. Dana might have to go that route again and make Nog vs. Franklin the main event and put Rashad against someone else lower on the main card. Either way this puts a big damper on things.
Rua vs. Griffin is a very important bout for UFC 134. Matyushenko fights at UFC 133, and he's on a win streak... if not Machida, he will fight Evans.
well look at that, I think we found the nice easy warm up fight that Chael Sonnen was looking for.
Machida will take the fight for sure...
agree machida is too hungry and always had a good plan for wrestlers but i dont think rashad will have the same plan like the last time. but machida always comes out good with opponents who hesitate to attack him.
CRAP- another card going in the toilet. I guess it is to be expected after the last PHENOMENAL card.
Rashad really can't catch a break and it really is starting to feel like the entire MMA world might be ducking Rashad.
It was reported that he had sand in his vagina! It hurts too bad to get his ass kicked in the near future!