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.
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