Just when you thought all of the light heavyweight drama for “UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz” was over and done with, the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion announced an undisclosed injury will now force Vladimir Matyushenko out of his August 6th contest against Alexander Gustafsson.
As we learned yesterday, the Octagon show waits for no man as Matt Hamill has agreed to serve as a last-minute substitute.
Hamill is two months removed from his lopsided loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 130. The former “The Ultimate Fighter 3” contestant had rattled off five consecutive victories prior to the unanimous decision defeat.
Gustafsson has collected submission victories in his last two Octagon scraps. He holds an underrated 11-1 record overall.
Matyushenko vs. Gustafsson was scheduled to appear in the Spike TV portion of the extravaganza. There’s no reason why Hamill’s presence would change that.
UFC 133 takes place inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A critical light heavyweight rematch between former champions Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz now headlines the pay-per-view broadcast.
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. Matt Hamill
Main Bouts:
(Pay-Per-View 9PM ET/6PM PT)
Mike Pyle vs. Rory MacDonald
Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara
Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz