The injury bug strikes again. According to MMAFighting, a knee injury will force light heavyweight Phil Davis out of next month’s main event against Rashad Evans at UFC 133.
The company is expected to announce Evans’ immediate future within the coming hours. It will be up to the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion to determine whether they can find a suitable substitute to headline the pay-per-view broadcast opposite “Suga,” or completely remove the former 205-pound champ from the August 6th show.
A light heavyweight shootout between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is currently scheduled as the card’s co-featured contest.
Evans holds an impressive 15-1-1 record, but has been out of action since defeating bitter rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 114 in May 2010. Ironically, Evans is rebounding from a knee injury of his own.
The event takes place inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Here is the card’s revised roster:
Preliminary Bouts:
Rafael Natal vs. Costantinos Phillippou
Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan
Mike Pierce vs. Johny Hendricks
Nick Pace vs. Ivan Menjivar
Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman
(Spike TV 8PM ET/5PM PT)
Rani Yahya vs. Chad Mendes
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Main Bouts:
(Pay-Per-View 9PM ET/6PM PT)
Rashad Evans vs. TBD
Mike Pyle vs. Rory MacDonald
Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara
Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira