With all of the hype recently over a UFC light heavyweight title fight between champ Jon “Bones” Jones (13-1) and former Jackson’s MMA teammate “Suga” Rashad Evans (15-1-1), today’s announcement by the promotion has taken the air out of that fight
Both Jones and Evans had been scheduled to meet in the headliner of UFC 133 but an injury to Jones has forced the champ off the card. Stepping in for the injured champ will be undefeated fighter Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis (9-0).
The Canadian Press reporter Neil Davidson was first to report the news, which was later confirmed by the UFC on Twitter (@UFC).
Forget what you thought you knew! Philly. UFC 133. @PhilMrWonderful Davis vs. @SugaRashadEvans details soon on http://www.ufc.com
MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that Jones suffered “a torn right-hand ligament” which occurred in his title win at UFC 128 over Maruicio “Shogun” Rua. No details were available on how long the champ was to be sidelined.
Update:
“Undefeated ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Phil Davis has verbally agreed to face former UFC world light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans in Philadelphia on August 6,” said UFC President Dana White. Evans was originally supposed to face new champ Jon ‘Bones’ Jones but Jones is unable to compete due to injury.”
UFC 133 has not been made official, but is expected to take place on Aug. 6 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the bout between Evans vs. Davis is expected to headline the event.
Evans has sat on the sidelines for almost a year waiting for his shot at the light heavyweight title since defeating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 114. “Suga” waited for, then champ, “Shogun” Rua to recover from knee surgery but suffered an injury just over a month before the fight. Jackson’s MMA teammate Jones was tagged as his replacement and went on to take the belt at UFC 128.
Both men had stated they would not fight each other, but Jones would rescind that statement in an interview by saying he’d fight Evans if the UFC wanted him too. That set off a spark which sent Evans out of the Jackson’s camp and into a title fight with Jones, that is until today’s announcement.
Evans has won his last two bouts and is 5-1 in his last six matches. Before stopping “Rampage” he earned a unanimous decision over Thiago Silva at UFC 108, and was KO’d by Lyoto Machida at UFC 98, losing his first pro fight as well as the light heavyweight title.
Davis is undefeated and carries a perfect 9-0 record into the fight, having won five straight in the octagon since his UFC debut in February of last year. He recently faced Antônio Rogério Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24, as a last minute replacement for Tito Ortiz, and earned a unanimous decision at the event. Previous to that he earned the “Submission of the Night” bonus for the use of a modified kimura to tap out Tim Boetsch at UFC 123 last November.