Numerous sources are reporting that Phil Davis has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 133 main event fight in Philadelphia against Rashad Evans due to a knee injury.
Popular veteran Tito Ortiz, who recently upset Ryan Bader in under two minutes, was offered Davis' spot but has turned it down. UFC is expected to announce Davis' injury and the new UFC 133 main event sometime today.
"I have a life and things to take care of," Ortiz said on Twitter. "The fight game is about making the right choices of my career. If you knew what I have been going through you all would understand. Peaking for a fight is what makes a fighter unstoppable! Timing is everything in life. This is a rebuild year for me not do or die. The time will come again!"
Reports last night stated that Lyoto Machida would be the choice but that was also premature. Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole tweeted this morning that UFC president Dana White had texted him saying Machida was a go against Evans, but he has since corrected that saying Machida, hasn't agreed to anything.
UK based Fighter's Only spoke with Machida's wife/manager Fabyola, who said it was too short of notice for the fight.
"The fight is close and for the sake of professionalism we can not accept it," she said. "We always do our best, but there is only a few weeks [until the fight] and it wouldn't be fair on the fans to put in a bad performance."
The undefeated Davis (9-0) last fight was against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC Fight Night in March. The win improved the Penn State product's UFC record to 5-0. Evans (15-1-1), meanwhile, hasn't been in the Octagon since topping Quinton Jackson at UFC 114 in May 2010.
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