On Tuesday July 12, news broke that top Light Heavyweight prospect Phil Davis had injured one of his knees while training for hi upcoming bout against former division champion Rashad Evans. Working fast, Joe Silva called up former 205lb champ Tito Ortiz with the opportunity to take Davis' place and have a rematch with Evans on three weeks notice after going to a Draw with him just over four years ago, but he turned down the offer citing that he had just come off a a fight and was dealing with personal matters that didn't make the timeline doable for him. The next fighter to get the call and opportunity to have a rematch with Evans was former 205lb champ Lyoto Machida, who is the only fighter to hold a win over Evans in his professional career. The rematch with Machida seemed to be a done deal from multiple reports, then UFC President Dana White informed everybody that Machida had not yet officially agreed to step in on late notice. Earlier on Wednesday July 13, news broke that Machida was turning down the fight not wanting to fight on late notice and without a proper training camp to prepare. With both Ortiz and Machida turning down the chance to take on Evans and UFC 133 approaching on August 6, there are no other top ten or top fifteen fighters in the Light Heavyweight division that can be brought in to fight in time.
Reigning champion Jon Jones is set to take on #1 contender Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in September at UFC 136. Evans was originally the #1 contender expected to take on then champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and ended up waiting for the champion to heal from a much needed knee surgery. While Evans was offered a fight with Machida in the meantime to keep active, but he turned down the offer feeling that as #1 contender he had every right to just wait for the champion to return, and did not want to risk losing a chance to reclaim the title he had held before. Ironically after waiting for Shogun to recover and be given the clearance to fight, Evans ended up getting injured himself while training for his title fight only a few weeks from the scheduled date for the bout. While news of his injury had not yet been released, Evans informed his teammate Jon Jones, who at the time was about to fight Ryan Bader, that he may get the offer to fight for the title in his place should he win and come out unscathed in his upcoming bout. Defeating Bader in dominant fashion and relatively unharmed, Jones was offered the title shot on a few weeks notice and went on to defeat Shogun in dominant fashion to become the new division champion. Leading up to his title shot against Shogun, Jones broke a rule that many fighters and camps hold dear when he said in an interview that should he win the title, he would be willing to fight his teammate Evans. Feeling betrayed by his teammate and his team at Jackson's MMA, Evans accepted the challenge and Jones vs Evans was set with the bout expected later in the year. After heated exchanges over Twitter and interviews, Jones broke the news that he was pulling out of the expected grudge match citing that an old injury in his hand had flared up after fighting Shogun and wanted to get it taken care of. With yet another title fight scrapped for Evans, he decided to finally take another fight after being criticized for being picky and afraid of losing a shot when he considers himself the best in the division. Evans vs Davis was set for UFC 133, and while preparation was underway and bout contracts were already signed, Jones revealed that he did not need surgery and following that news the UFC scheduled Jones to take on Rampage after his dominant win over Matt Hamill. After going over a year now choosing not to fight, having a title fight and a regular three round bout fall through, and now not able to get a top ten opponent to compete against in time, Evans is under even more criticism for not fighting when he had the chance. This brings even more criticism of fighters who decide to hold up their division waiting for a shot at a title instead of proving that they are the best in their division by defeating all other competition and earning money while they wait. With his own choice to wait so long for a title shot and the ironic bad luck of not being able to get a fight, Evans may have to wait for another fight for another two to three months, that is unless UFC matchmaker Joe Silva can fight a suitable opponent in time for this event.
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