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Jon Jones injured, Phil Davis to replace him VS. Rashad Evans

9K views 88 replies 49 participants last post by  The Dark Knight 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
http://mmajunkie.com/news/23365/jon...-vs-rashad-evans-now-targeted-for-ufc-133.mma

With UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) injured, UFC officials have now booked a bout between the champ's original opponent, Rashad Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC), and replacement Phil Davis (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC).

Sources today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the new matchup, which takes place at UFC 133. The Canadian Press' Neil Davidson first reported the opponent switch, which was later officially announced by the UFC.

A source told MMAjunkie.com that Jones is facing a lengthy recovery from a torn right-hand ligament suffered in his title win. A timetable for his return wasn't immediately available.

Although not officially announced, UFC 133 is expected to take place Aug. 6 in Philadelphia. The main card is expected to air on pay-per-view.

The change of plans means another speed bump in Evans' request to reclaim the UFC's light-heavyweight title.

Evans had been in line to fight then-champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 before a knee injury forced Evans off the card. As Rua healed from his own knee injury, Evans sat out nearly a year waiting for the title shot rather than taking a non-championship bout and risking his shot at the belt. But when he lost the slot due to injury, UFC officials gave it to Jones following his early-February victory over fellow top prospect Ryan Bader at UFC 126.

Jones won the title from Rua in dominant fashion at UFC 128, which set up a meeting with Evans, a former training partner with whom he's now had a very public fallout.

But rather than Jones, Evans next will fight Davis, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion. Davis is 9-0 in his pro career, and the past five fights have come in the UFC. With victories over Brian Stann, Alexander Gustafsson, Rodney Wallace and Tim Boetsch, he began drawing comparisons to Jones. In this past month's UFC Fight Night 24 headliner, Davis scored one of his biggest wins yet: a hard-fought unanimous-decision victory over notable Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

For the latest on UFC 133, stay to tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
Things just got more interesting.
 
#37 ·
This has really put me off this fight card now :/
 
#40 ·
Damn .. Rashad must be trippin out right now , what a horrible 12 mo period .. He sacrificed and waited for his title shot , got injured and now has to fight a dangerous young talent ..
 
#41 ·
Yeah so true. It's been a HELL of a wait for Rashad and I'm sure it's starting to really hurt his morale. And if he loses to Davis it's going to put him back to square one really. Maybe if he loses they can line up Shogun vs. Rashad.
 
#44 ·
I don't even think it was right of Dana to offer Davis this fight. I have a lot of respect for Phil and suspect he'll be a top dog one day, but having just IDed his issues, I was looking forward to seeing him take some time off to better himself as a fighter. Stinks that Dana no doubt put him on the spot. It's not that I don't think Mr. Wonderful can hang with Rashad... it's that the man had literally just said he'd like to take some time away to work on his craft.

That, and they could have scrapped Shogun vs. Forrest for Shogun vs. Evans, which I'm certain would have got the fans talking.
 
#52 ·
Rethinking about this fight has me wondering if Davis can win this. Mostly my change came about thinking about all the stress and drama Evans brought into his life and training camp recently. It could be that Evans has disrupted too much and that when he comes into the fight won't be adequately prepared and focused. While he has tons of experience any slacking off and he could pay huge for it.

Anyone think Jackson will offer Evans his services? <- Serious question by the way.
 
#53 ·
Rethinking about this fight has me wondering if Davis can win this. Mostly my change came about thinking about all the stress and drama Evans brought into his life and training camp recently. It could be that Evans has disrupted too much and that when he comes into the fight won't be adequately prepared and focused. While he has tons of experience any slacking off and he could pay huge for it.

Anyone think Jackson will offer Evans his services? <- Serious question by the way.
Greg Jackson is a reasonable man and i'm sure he'd train him if they talked through. Rashad did say in a radio show that his angry at Greg for lying though, Rashads pride would be the biggest obstacle and i doubt their going to be working together.
 
#57 ·
this is bullshit. nobody wants to see this matchup. How can you cancel a highly awaited LHW championship fight and replace it with this?

Rashad needs to be fighting Shogun or even Bader? i'm sure they're both up for it. Phil should be fighting B level competition so he can sharpen his skills and build up his confidence. This fight will more than likely end in a UD victory for Rashad and it wont be pretty.
 
#62 ·
I'm not even a big Rashad Evans fan, but damn... that's some horrible luck. He waits on an injured Shogun for a titleshot, then gets hurt himself, so his training partner steps in for the title shot, then HE gets hurt, and now Rashad is left with a huge layoff and a fight with Phil Davis. And like others have mentioned - that's not even a very interesting matchup for him. If he loses people will start to write him off, and if he wins people will say 'big deal, who has Phil Davis beat?'. He'll pretty much have to dominate to make any sort of headway here.
 
#63 ·
Imagine how funny it will be if Rashad loses.

All of the talk, all of the crying, all of the insults, all of the bullshit....for nothing.
 
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#67 ·
Sorry for Davis, but I'd actually like to see Rashad completely inialate him, just to give JBJ something to think about for when they do eventually meet. Everybody thinks JBJ will run through Rashad (or atleast do), but it'd be fun to see him dominate Davis, just make their eventual meeting that much more interesting.
 
#73 ·
Jones may be out for a while, be interesting to see how it affects his rhythm.

This seems like strange matchmaking, but it is similar to the Jones situation where there was no one of higher ranking available to take Rashad's place, and right now Davis is just about the only guy coming off a win who's available.

I reckon Evans outworks Davis though, tires him out and wins via TKO or UD.
 
#74 ·
Jones may be out for a while, be interesting to see how it affects his rhythm.

This seems like strange matchmaking, but it is similar to the Jones situation where there was no one of higher ranking available to take Rashad's place, and right now Davis is just about the only guy coming off a win who's available.

I reckon Evans outworks Davis though, tires him out and wins via TKO or UD.
You realize he gassed in the 3rd round of his 2 last fights, right?
 
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