UFC 133 remains without a confirmed main-event in the wake of Phil Davis’ injury, as both Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz have reportedly rejected invitations to fight Rashad Evans.
Thanks to a knee injury, UFC was forced to scrap the planned Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis main-event, a bout which had already been a replacement for an anticipated Rashad Evans-Jon Jones title fight. At the time the story broke Tuesday evening, sources said UFC was definitely not pulling Evans from the card and that Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz were eyed as the most likely replacements.
The Ortiz talk was quickly nixed as news broke that he had turned down the fight, which would have been just a month after his big victory over Ryan Bader. That left Machida, who many MMA websites reported had indeed agreed to the fight.
As it turns out, those reports were premature, and the latest word is that Machida has also rejected the Evans fight. UFC might try to iron something out with Machida as he represents a compelling opponent, but as of press time, that bout is not scheduled to happen.
Both Ortiz and Machida would have been stepping into rematches with with Evans. Ortiz and Evans fought to a unanimous draw back in 2007, while Machida defeated Evans with a highlight-reel knockout in 2009.