UFC
Phil Davis injured, UFC wants Rashad Evans to rematch Lyoto Machida at UFC 133 [UPDATED]
Jul 12, 2011 - 10:45:28 PM Phil Davis injured, UFC wants Rashad Evans to rematch Lyoto Machida at UFC 133 [UPDATED]

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

An injury has forced Phil Davis out of the UFC 133 main event next month in Philadelphia, according to a report from Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com.

Per the report, Davis has suffered a knee injury, taking him out of a fight with Rashad Evans on the card. A separate report by Matt Roth at HeadKickLegend.com states that the UFC is expected to officially announce Lyoto Machida as his replacement opponent in a rematch of their UFC Light Heavyweight Title fight from UFC 98 in 2009.

This is the fourth straight pay-per-view event for the UFC that has suffered the loss of either the planned main event or the co-main event. UFC 130 in May lost Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III, leading to Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill being moved to the top slot; UFC 131 lost Brock Lesnar to diverticulitis, with Shane Carwin stepping up to face Junior dos Santos, and UFC 132 lost the co-main event between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch when both pulled out with injuries.

Evans will now have to prepare on short notice for the fourth different opponent he's been lined up to fight this year without actually getting into the cage. A knee injury of his own forced him out of a bout with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, leading to his now former teammate Jon Jones stepping in and capturing the belt. The title fight with Jones was planned before Evans settled on the bout with Davis when Jones was told he needed surgery on his hand.

Now Evans will face off against the only man to ever defeat him in Machida. Their title fight at UFC 98 was the beginning of "The Machida Era" when "The Dragon" knocked Evans out in the second round in one of the most famous finishes in UFC history. Evans was pressed back to the cage, hurt by strikes from Machida, and tried to swing back wildly. However, Machida connected on a huge combination, knocking Evans out cold and sending him crashing down with his knee awkwardly bending under his body.

Machida takes the fight on short notice off his incredible crane kick knockout of Randy Couture at UFC 129 in Toronto in April. The win snapped a two fight losing streak for Machida.

UFC 133 takes place from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Penn. on August 6 and will air live on pay-per-view.

Penick's Analysis: Evans went from a fight he was favored in after 14 months out of action to fighting the one man that has a win over him on less than a month's notice. While Davis represented a possible road block for a potential Evans-Jones title fight, Machida will most certainly represent a very realistic road block to that fight happening. Machida was the better fighter when they fought the first time, he's coming off an excellent performance against Randy Couture and Evans hasn't fought since last May. This is a rough, rough draw, but it's also a chance for him to avenge that loss. The only other option for the UFC at this point would have been a rematch with Tito Ortiz, but the Machida fight makes more sense in the top end of the division, and Machida can earn himself a potential shot at the winner of Jones-Rampage with another win over Evans.

[Lyoto Machida art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

UPDATE: MMAFighting's Mike Chiappetta now reports that while the UFC wants Evans vs. Machida II, the fight has not yet been agreed upon. There is still no word from the UFC officially as they are working to finalize the fight, so despite the HKL report the fight is not guaranteed, just being targeted.

UPDATE 2: Chiappetta posted another update on Twitter - "I just asked Dana White if Lyoto accepted the fight. His answer: "No, and Tito turned it down." There is no replacement yet."

Machida may not have accepted the fight yet, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's dead. Tito Ortiz turning down the fight when his win over Ryan Bader only took two minutes probably wasn't the best move for him, and could be a detrimental call on his part after such a redeeming moment at UFC 132.

UPDATE 3: Chiappetta updated yet again stating - "I just want to clarify something. Machida hasn't declined the fight. But he hasn't accepted it yet either. They're waiting on him." So Machida is still the plan, they just need to lock him up.