UFC 133 - Phil Davis Out. Evans Set to Rematch Lyoto Machida

[keithlewis]

UFC 133 was set to be the UFC's big return to Philadelphia after the highly entertaining UFC 101 where Anderson Silva stopped Forrest Griffin in the first round. The card was set to be headlined by Rashad Evans coming back from a long layoff against rising Light Heavyweight star Phil Davis. Unfortunately, it looks like Davis is now out of the fight because of a knee injury.

Instead, I have learned from sources close to the situation that Rashad Evans will be facing the one man who defeated him, Lyoto Machida. The fight will be a rematch from their UFC Light Heavyweight Title fight over two years ago at UFC 98. The first fight was entertaining but it showed a real hole in Rashad's game. He was unable to figure out Machida's timing and suffered a knockout loss because of it. This time he's facing Machida with a ton of ring rust and on shorter notice. In MMA, there aren't many Karate practitioners you can call to emulate Machida's style. Machida has the benefit of being an active fighter, just having to train for a wrestler, and already having a victory over Evans.

http://www.headkicklegend.com/

[keithlewis]

Lyoto Machida will not fight Rashad Evans for a second time -- at least, not at UFC 133.

Machida’s spouse, Fabyola Machida, informed www.Sherdog.com on Wednesday that her husband will not take the place of the injured Phil Davis at the Aug. 6 event. However, the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s wife explained, it was not a one-sided decision to turn down the short-notice fight.

“The UFC called him [Tuesday] to offer him the fight,” Mrs. Machida said, “but after a conference, Lyoto, his managers and the UFC representatives decided it wouldn’t be a good decision for him to fight. It would even show a lack of professionalism on Lyoto’s part to take the fight, having such a short period to train.”