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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Thiago Silva has been forced out of his UFC 130 bout with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. But the UFC has pulled out a huge replacement, as MMAWeekly.com reports that Rashad Evans will step in for Thiago to meet Rampage in a rematch of their UFC 114 bout.
Evans was initially scheduled to meet Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 128 in March, but a knee injury has sidelined him for six weeks. He'll now return two months later at the memorial day weekend card in Las Vegas.
Evans and Jackson have a history with one another dating back to an in cage confrontation at UFC 96 in 2009. The two then coached against each other on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter. Though they were supposed to meet at UFC 107 after the season had finished, Rampage's part in the A Team movie took him out, and the two finally met last Memorial Day Weekend at UFC 114.
Jackson was defeated in a three round decision that night, but he returned in November of last year to secure a victory over Lyoto Machida.
UFC 130 is expected to be headlined by a Lightweight Championship rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
Penick's Analysis: This is a huge replacement fight with Silva being forced out. The hype for their first fight last year made it the first non-title fight to draw a million ppv buys, and even though the interest will be less than that for the rematch, it will still draw well. And after beating Machida with a smart gameplan, Rampage can definitely win this rematch. The UFC will be in a bit of trouble if Jon Jones defeats Shogun in March and if Evans wins, though, as they'll have taken out a contender and Evans won't fight Jones. But, this should hopefully be a better fight than their first encounter, and it's a big fight for this card.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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