The revolving doors of a UFC light heavyweight bout that originally had Matt Hamill taking on Phil Davis appear to be at an end. News surfaced today of a match between Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko (25-5) vs. Jason “The Hitman” Brilz (18-3-1) for the upcoming UFC 129 event in Toronto.
Originally Hamill was moved to UFC 130 to face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, while Davis was given Brilz as a replacement. With the news this past weekend that Tito Ortiz had suffered an injury during training, Davis was chosen as his replacement to meet Antônio Rogério “Minotouro” Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24.
Now MMAjunkie.com is reporting that Davis replacement is “The Janitor” Matyushenko, learning of the fight from sources close to the event and noting that only verbal agreements are currently in place.
Both Matyushenko and Brilz were to have met at UFC 122 but an injury to Brilz forced him off the card and he was replaced by Alexandre Ferreira.
The bout with Ferreira was “The Janitor’s” last bout, a first round TKO victory at the November event in Germany. The win put him at 1-1 in his last two fights and 3-1 in his last four. The loss came to light heavyweight contender Jon Jones in the headliner for UFC on Versus 2 last August. This is Matyushenko’s third, and longest stint, with the UFC and sports an overall record of 6-3 with the promotion.
Brilz could be looking at receiving a pink slip form the UFC if he should lose a second straight fight, but a good performance, despite a loss, could work in his favor having earned the “Fight of the Night” bonus against Rogério Nogueira in his last fight at UFC 114 in a split decision loss. He is 1-2 in his last three and is 3-2 overall in the UFC. He had a 13 fight unbeaten streak stopped by Eliot Marshall at UFC 103 in September 2009.
UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields will take place on April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and will be the largest UFC event in the promotions history with 55,000 fans expected to attend.