Phil Davis out, Lyoto Machida potentially in against Rashad Evans at UFC 133

BREAKING NEWS: It has been confirmed  that light heavyweight super-prospect Phil Davis has withdrawn from the main event of UFC 133 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His replacement against Rashad Evans looks set to be Lyoto Machida, the only man to defeat ‘Suga’ in mixed martial arts competition.


As first reported by HeadKickLegend.com, then confirmed to MMABay by numerous sources, Phil Davis has been forced to withdraw from his first PPV main event bout against Rashad Evans in just over three weeks time. Initial reports cite a knee injury as the cause, however there is no word yet as to the specific problem or how serious it is for ‘Mr Wonderful’.
The late withdrawal continues a terrible run of luck for Evans, who has seen injuries to himself and his opponents nix a number of proposed bouts over the past two years. First, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson pulled out of their TUF coaches fight to film ‘The A-Team’, then, after defeating Jackson and waiting almost a year for the injured champion ‘Shogun’ Rua to return, Evans himself was forced to back out due to injury and was replaced by Jon Jones, who went on to defeat ‘Shogun’ for the belt. Evans originally intended to fight Jones for the title at UFC 133, but a convoluted series of events saw the champion replaced by Phil Davis, only to take a bout against ‘Rampage’ Jackson in September.
Innitial reports state that Lyoto Machida will fill the void left in UFC 133’s main event, however at the time of writing this is yet to be confirmed by the UFC. Numerous sources have suggested that the bout is a done deal, however Machida is yet to accept according to Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting. Interestingly Chiapetta also confirmed that Tito Ortiz was originally offered a chance to take care of unfinished business with Rashad Evans dating back to UFC 73 when the two fought to a controversial draw, but declined.
Should Machida agree to the bout, he will have less than four weeks to prepare for Evans. Regardless, Machida, who trains out of the vaunted Black House, will open as a heavy favourite against ‘Suga’ following a near flawless performance when the two first met at UFC 98 in 2009. Evans was unable to decipher his opponents timing that night, and ended up the victim of a brutal knock-out in the second round.
MMABay is awaiting official confirmation on the replacement. Stay tuned for more as we get it.
By Brad Wharton