UFC 133 (Phil Davis....... is OUT!)
 

It seems that Rashad Evans just can't catch a break. Phil Davis, Rashad's opponent at UFC 133 has been forced to withdraw from their fight according to MMA Fighting. From the story:

Phil Davis has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 133 main event fight against Rashad Evans due to a knee injury, MMA Fighting has learned from sources. No word just yet on who, if anyone, Evans will now fight on the Aug. 6 card.

Evans chose to sit on the sidelines waiting for his title shot against Mauricio Rua while Rua recovered from knee surgery. Evans would then injure his own knee in training for the Rua fight, opening the door for Jon Jones to replace him and win the UFC light heavyweight championship.

Evans and Jones have since engaged in a very public feud having been former training partners. A fight between the two was postponed due to a Jones hand injury which led to Jones choosing to stay busy and fight Davis. Now, Davis is out and Rashad is without an opponent.

A fight between Jones and Quinton Jackson is planned for September, meaning the UFC can't slide Rashad into the title shot that he earned with his win over Jackson.

Looking around, the only available big names would seem to be guys like Lyoto Machida or Tito Ortiz (assuming Tito can make a quick turnaround after a short win).



So now the question is... who does Rashad face? Cause he's been out a long time now. He was ready and now his opponent is out. Should he wait for the winner of Jones/Rampage?

That's a long ass time off waiting for the winner of Jones/Rampage. From a purely business perspective, having Tito in that place would probably do better numbers wise than Lyoto or even Phil Davis before that. If I'm Tito I'd be begging for this fight. Their last fight was a draw so it's not like Rashad buried him and Rashad's coming off a huge lay off. If Tito wins that fight, it would put him at most a fight away from a title shot and at the very least give him more shit talking rights over Chuck.

More likely his replacement would be a LHW with an upcoming fight around that time.

Scratch that, Machida is going to replace Davis.

So since Machida is the official replacement... will this fight go longer than 2 rounds? Will Machida give Evans another KO loss? Machida is the odds on favorite. Heavy favorite.

I could see Machida winning with another KO.

I cant imagine Rashad taking the same strategy into the fight with him

Apparently Machida is not the official replacement.

From Fighter's Only:

http://ht.ly/5DyvT

Lyoto Machida’s manager-wife Fabyola says that her husband won’t be taking the late-notice fight with Rashad Evans.

Evans is without an opponent after Phil Davis pulled out yesterday. Tito Ortiz was asked to step in for the August 6th fight. He declined and the buck passed to Machida, who has yet to formally respond to the UFC’s offer.

“The fight is close and for the sake of professionalism we can not accept it. We always do our best, but there is only a few weeks [until the fight] and it wouldn't be fair on the fans to put in a bad performance,” she told Nomundo Dos Lutas in Brasil.

But Yahoo! Sports writer Kevin Iole posted a Twitter message at roughly the same time as Fabyola’s comments surfaced, saying that UFC president Dana White had told him Machida would be taking the fight: “Just got a text from @danawhite. Machida is in vs. Suga Rashad, he says.”

There has still be no official confirmation of that. An announcement is expected today from the UFC but if Machida won’t take the fight the options are thin on the ground.

Breaking up the light-heavyweight match between Rich Franklin and Rogerio Nogueira on the same card is a possibility. Evans vs. Franklin might be a popular match with the fans, Evans vs. Rogerio probably less so.

Machida is the only person to have defeated Evans in his professional career. He did it by way of knockout at UFC 98. Evans has since gone on to win two fights while Machida won the belt, defended it once and then went on a two-fight skid before bouncing back with a win over Randy Couture.

UPDATE: Since the report was published, Fighters Only reporter Eduardo Cruz has spoken to Fabyola personally and been told the same, that Machida will not be taking the fight as it is too short notice.

Still no official word from the UFC.

Tito doesn't seem interested in the fight either according to his twitter.

stupid for tito not to take it. he came out of the bader fight unscathed as far as i can see and this fight could have turned him around from washed up has been on the brink of being cut to genuine contender.

It would be almost stupid for him to take it, yeah it's a great opportunity, but he's also 36 and just came off a training camp and a fight 2 weeks ago. It's all about being able to peak on fight night, and obviously he felt he woudn't be ready on just three weeks notice.

I also think Tito being washed up has been a bit overblown, he wasn't KO'd in his losses, and other than the Hamill fight, was always competetive. Yeah he lost, but the guy has had half a dozen surgeries in the last few years. Appearently he's healthy now.

Only until his next loss. Then we'll find out he wasn't healthy again :P

tito isn't that good. if he did fight rashad and got a title shot out of it he wouldn't really deserve it, but it'd still sort of make sense.

I can't even think of who I would put in against Evans. I know Matt Hamill just got beat by Rampage, but who else is there if neither Tito or Machida want the fight?

Sucks for Evans. He might have another tough choice of fighting a guy who he has nothing to gain against...or perhaps waiting for a title shot..again.

I wonder how bad the PPV buys are going to be for this card.

According to MMAJunkie its Tito vs. Rashad II afteralll.

I wonder how much they offered him.

I won't lie I'll mark out if Ortiz wins. And I dont even really like the guy.

I'm definitely cheering for Tito. I think either way this is a win/win for Dana. If Tito wins he gets to put on Jones/Ortiz which would probably do huge numbers and if Tito loses he gets to put on Rampage/Ortiz. Definitely cheering for Tito though.

Whoa Whoa, Slow your roll folks. Rampage is gonna obliterate Jon Jones face.

Wow..ok so we know Rashad is no Bader. How can Ortiz win this fight? And it will be a 5 round fight so might be to his disadvantage.

It'll probably be a groundfest so Tito has to outwrestle Rashad and grind out a decision hopefully.

Thought the 5 round main events didn't start until the show after this one.

This fights only 3 rounds. Rashad didn't really do much with Tito the last fight so I'm not really expecting a blow out from Rashad. He'll probably wrestle out a decision. Would be sweet if Tito clipped him early and got a TKO though.

Oh I thought the 5 rounders started already in the next one..better for Tito then :D

Interesting turn of events... There is so much drama surrounding Suga right now. He's switching camps, opponents are getting hurt...this usually ends badly. Tito is in an awesome position to pull of the Leben sweep.

With that being said, Rashad is decisively better than when they first fought, and though Tito is healthy, with a solid excuse for losing built in with the short notice....this should be a wrestle fuck fest to a decision.

Is this card cursed?

That was a fight I was really looking forward to seeing. Rich is just fun to watch in there and I was hoping he was gonna take it to Lil Nog. Hope Rich gets an opponent in time.

Damn injuries. They train too hard probably

wasnt the last card (or two) that Rashad headlined absolutely cursed as well?

isnt it funny? seems the fastest way to become unpopular with UFC fans is to win a decision that clearly should have gone the other way. i call it The Bisping Effect. the best thing a fighter can do in that situation is turn on the judges and acknowledge that the decision was B.S. the second Joe Rogan sticks that mic in their face. the worst thing would be to do what Bisping did and try to rationalize the judges' bad decision.

not that it was Lil' Nog had anything to do with it, but i've been rooting against him ever since the Brilz Robbery. Bisping went from being popular to being very unpopular overnight after The Hammil Screw Job. Leonard Garcia lost a lot of good will from fans (myself included) by winning a bad decision over Nam Phan - and i think he said that he agreed that the decision was bullshit.

Other than cards where he pulled himself out, no he was last on the memorial day weekend card in may 2010 that was awesome.

I never saw anyone giving lil nog hate especially because of his decision against brils. I mean come on, hes lost since then anyways.

Noone hated forrest for beating rampage...

Anyway bisbing was already a piece of shit and the fact that hammil was such a fan favorite to begin with ON TOP of the fact that hammil was robbed, made people hate bisbing.

I think a lot of people lost the love for garcia because of how out of shape and sloppy he looked more than the bad decision.

I'm sure they'll just put Franklin in the Silva/Okami card as soon as Rua or Griffin get hurt and pull out.

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lol love Rashad asking somebody else about "believing everything that's he saying"

Rashad will win

Completely unrelated, but I'm going to my first MMA show tomorrow here where I live that has Mark Coleman on the card and have no idea what to expect from it....thoughts?

Rashad is an extremely boring fighter, no matter how much he tries to funk it up with jazzercize in the middle of his fights. I really want to see him on his way down. He isn't interesting. Here's hoping he loses.

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The verbal warfare stuff is kind of corny pro wrestlingish if you ask me.

Watching Chad Mendes fight is a labor of love.

Goldberg: Crowd chanting USA for Matt Hamill.
Joe Rogan: Unfortunately, he's deaf.

I love Joe Rogan. I was cracking up when he said that. It was just so blunt and deadpan.

He hates when the crowd chants USA. He thinks it makes us Americans look meatheaded and ignorant. He had some good jokes on commentary about Kentucky when the crowd there started chanting it.

Goldberg: Both men going old school.
Rogan: Yeah but this song sucks. (The song was Can't Touch This by MC Hammer by the way.)

Rogan is definitely the man on commentary. They just need to add someone who can go back and forth on him with the jokes and still have a straight man for play by play. Bas Rutten in that booth would be amazing.

LOL at the "I wish it would have went a little bit long, so I could have shown you some more things."

Ala, I wan'ted to beat his ass some more.

Ebersole and Hallman are epic. I hope they win fight of the night.

Chest hair arrows and speedos... Can't believe anyone would ever think MMA is "gay."

Holy shit Vitor!

Rashad looks good.

well so much for Ortiz

As an aside, this makes me more excited for a Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans fight.

But Tito was washed up, and rashad is boring, he only goes to decisions, and...:rofl:

SUGA BAY-BEE! he tooled that dude the whole way, that guillotine, wasn't tight, and look at those k-1 level knees!

Hey Jon Jones, how's that thumb? I'm sure it's hurting, since it's attached to a whimp! We'd be crowing a champion had you, ya know, actually stepped up to fight.

Is Phil Davis breathing a sigh of relief...


AND I'M LEADING TIPSTERS BYTCHES!!!

Any body wanna post some vids?

Wrong on so many levels...but hey, here's hoping you cried as hard as you did when cena lost to punk.

Here you go...


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cu6YRCsfDu...q4/s1600/6.gif
:wave:

You are really going for the heel heat huh Krimzon?

He isn't boring because of decisions, he's just boring to me. He could hang glide into the arena and knock somebody out somehow with a falcon punch to the testicles and he'd still be boring to me. Just has an extreme lack of charisma.

And when Punk beat Cena I was hula dancing drunk and naked on top of my television set with an erection so I don't know what you're talking about.

You had me at erection. Totally apologize for shitting on your opinion...I totally CSL'd out for a moment!

IJS, do you know how many asses would line up to get in my face had rashad lost? I'm gonna kick sand in all their pussies brother, that's sportsmanship!

You flatter me with your desire to downplay the simple fact that you would be first in line to post some new rashad face, had one been created.

I hope we get Jones/Evans for the sheer entertainment/friction/hostility/hilarity that will be brought to this thread. If it's a stacked card that would make it even better.

Oh, right...now we're back to THAT. Look, I seriously appreciate whatever double talking, educated, yet ignorant at the same time, opinion that you bring to any discussion. I will say this...had you responded differently to said first post, then none of the resulting shit would follow. You, my stale shit fonted friend, took the douchebaggiest approach to responding. A tactic like that is usually reserved for haters of rashad Evans. So I treated, and will continue to handle you as such. If you feel the need to respond, then I take the liberty to 'feed the animals'.

Bottom line, and back on subject...you were wrong. You picked Tito ftw, and you were wrong. I'm just applying that fact to the conversation cupcake.

Lol, does it have to be in that order. Did you see the fight? There was a drunk bitch Booing the shit out of Suga at the check in point, right before shad got in the cage...I'm betting that bitch is CSL

Ha! Yep. She was giving Shad the thumbs down like it was 1992 or some shit. She looked kinda good though. UFC has some hot broads at their shows. I just noticed the CSL jab at the end while I was typing and laughed a bit after putting the imagery together.

You got any good comebacks CSL because Krimzon is leading this one. And yes I am stoking the flames of this fire because I'm bored.


As an aside, would you guys be interested in a Dan Henderson vs. Tito Ortiz fight if Hendo re-signs? I don't think Hendo stands a chance against the top tier talent at LHW after what Rampage & Silva did to him at 205 and 185 but I do think some of the mid tier guys would be fun fights.

I'm sure he'll say I'm the cup covering shads nuts or some shit...
Hendo/Ortiz would be fun.what fights are left for Tito?

Tito would be a good gatekeeper for untested guys like Davis or purely attraction fights against someone like Forrest.

I stated that I thought (and still think) that Jones will do Rashad some damage if/when they fight only in picture form because it was much quicker and to the point than typing something out. And you took great offense to it. There was no tactic, no "douchebaggery", no imaginary trolling of your thread and so forth. Did you notice anybody else becoming so very upset at that picture being posted? It blows my mind that this far down the line that you still think this has anything to do with "hating on Rashad" yet still you repeat it like you're making some kind of point every time. And by "usually reserved for haters of Rashad Evans" you appear to once again be /treating/comparing this place to something like the spastic filled forums of Sherdog or somewhere similar. Which is half of the problem with some of your posts in here in the first place.

lol I'm not worrying too much about making comebacks when the shots taken are "stale shit" in regards to my font colour and Krimzon7 still telling himself that I somehow dislike Rashad as opposed to simply thinking he (Krimzon) is a bit of a mong at times with his posts

lol love when 3rd parties enter the fray of an argument for no reason like it somehow adds some sort of validation towards whomever they are backing. Next Big Thing, go away. Also, this is a silly argument to begin with. Let's shape up.

Not sure how my OBVIOUSLY KIDDING statement that Krimzon's joke about CSL being a woman (because that was a real hurtful zinger, CSL was probably typing through tears) should elicit a response from CSL (likely to be another hurtful zinger that would make Krimzon want to hang himself with his mouse cord) constitutes getting into the fray of an argument or backing anyone.

While we're being so literal, CSL I really am mad at you for saying tipsters wasn't an important competition and Krimzon you're really hurting my feelings by rubbing Tito's loss in my face. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm getting into the fray now. Arggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Relax. It's not that serious.

rashad did well but i didn't see anything which said he would beat jones.

I DON'T HAVE A MOUSE CORD! HOW DARE YOU!!! It was never that serious! ever.

The key to this would be Tito admitting to himself that he isn't a title contender anymore. He would have to be okay with just having a job, fighting rich Franklin in a co main ( which I'd love), and breaking the young ins in. I love Tito, and he brought it during his fight. He earned more of my respect last night.


He took a brutal knee. And I swear this was the first time I've heard solar plexus outside of a wrestling broadcast.

That's fair, but to be honest, Tito is a different fighter than jones. The only take away is that he is in great shape, he's worked on his striking, and his performance last night was better than his performance 14 months ago.

Rashad definitely looks like he's in amazing shape. I still give Jones the edge, but I want to see how he does against Rampage before saying he's an odds on favorite to beat Evans. It will be the first real test against a high caliber opponent who has had time to plan for him. Shogun doesn't really count in my opinion because Jones is so unorthodox and was a late replacement for Rashad whose game is a bit different.

Absolutely agree, JJ has his work cutnoutnfor him

LOL @ This thread. Amazing.

Rashad will win.

I love how people are treating Jon Jones like he's Anderson Silva or GSP. Yes, he's looked very impressive against the competetion thus far, but other than Shogun he hasn't been fighting top 10 talent. Atleast Jones isn't the only one buying his into his hype.

Naw, Jon Jones isn't GSP. Jon Jones is an exciting fighter...

i will bet you $100 he doesn't.

jon jones is like anderson silva but with reach/distance instead of reaction/elusiveness + a wrestling background. even if someone does fluke a win over him he is going to be at the very top for years to come if he avoids serious injury and having his head turned by fame.

Jon Jones is nothing like Anderson Silva. Not to mention Silva's stand up is in a whole other league.

I accept.

Jon jones is very unorthodox. That, plus reach and wrestling are what makes him such an enigma standing up. His footwork is below par even for MMA's low standards. I am of the mindset that technique outperforms talent in most cases.

Do you guys think the camps could play a part in the potential outcome of a Jones/Evans fight.

Rashad has some pretty good training partners with Rumble Johnson, King Mo, Antonio Silva and Tyrone Spong. Plus he can always go to Grudge and spar with Carwin and Schaub. Not that those guys can emulate Jon Jones, but at the same time sparring/training with the likes of those guys can only make Rashad stronger whereas Jackson's is stacked at the lighter weight classes but I don't think there at that many top flight light heavyweights or heavyweights for Jon Jones to work with. Bryan Stann is the only name I can think of size wise.

Not saying it's going to be a match changer, but I am curious if that could have an impact.

they both utilise a lot of thai boxing techniques. they both have superior reach over anyone in the division. the big difference though is silva is a counter fighter whereas jones' ridiculous reach means he can push the pace a bit more.

tbh i imagine jones/rashad will be a shit fight since they have trained together for god knows how long anyway.

Anderson Silva also uses alot of western boxing techniques and footwork, which is what sets him apart from the average Muia Thai kickboxer. I don't really see them having any real similarities other than they are both tall fighters for their divisions and have good reach.

Also people need to stop overlooking Rampage.