An injury to Mauricio Rua means that Glover Teixeira will face Rashad Evans on short-notice at UFC on FOX 19 in Tampa, Florida on April 16th.
Five years ago, Rashad Evans suffered a knee injury and was forced out of his light heavyweight title fight with then-champion Mauricio Rua at UFC 128. Fast forward to today and this time it’s Shogun who is injured and out of the rebooked non-title matchup. FOX Sports’ Damon Martin first reported the news on Wednesday, along with confirmation that Glover Teixeira will step in to face Evans on short-notice at UFC on FOX 19 on April 16th in Florida.
Teixeira (24-4) challenged for the LHW strap two years ago, losing a unanimous decision to Jon Jones at UFC 172. The Brazilian turned in a lackluster performance against Phil Davis in his ensuing bout, but he bounced back with a pair of strong victories in 2015. Glover choked out Ovince Saint Preux in the UFC Nashville main event in August, then knocked out Patrick Cummins in November in front of a joyous Brazilian crowd.
Evans (19-4-1) returned from a 2 year layoff, having been sidelined with multiple knee surgeries, and dropped a unanimous decision to Ryan Bader in the UFC 192 co-main event. The former UFC champion was actually scheduled to fight Teixeira last year but Glover withdrew with an injury, and Evans opted for another surgery. His last win was a 1st round TKO stoppage of three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen.
UFC on FOX 19 is headlined by a #1 contender’s lightweight contest between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. Teixeira vs. Evans will serve as the night’s co-main event in Tampa’s Amalie Arena.