The cursed UFC 133 card finally took place this weekend in Philadelphia, and the twice-switched main-event kept Evans on the path to another title shot.
Originally eyed as a possible destination for Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, the main-event was changed to Phil Davis vs. Evans when an injury kept the Light Heavyweight Champ out of action. Davis then went down to injury, thrusting Tito Ortiz into the mix just a month after he shocked the world with a win over Ryan Bader.
Lighting did not strike twice for Ortiz, however, and he fell victim to the heavily-favored Evans. Evans, who got off to a slow start, seemed to treat an Ortiz takedown as a “wake-up call.” He fired back with some solid striking and wrestling, before ultimately finishing Ortiz off with ground strikes in the second round.
He now moves into position to fight the winner of Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the Light Heavyweight title.
The card had also, at one point, featured Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara; those fights ended up getting scratched and changed, respectively.
The co-main-event ended up pitting Vitor Belfort against Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belfort claimed an easy victory with a first-round technical knockout, righting his course after a disappointing outing against Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.
UFC 133 results:
Rafael Natal b. Paul Bradley via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Mike Brown b. Nam Phan via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Johny Hendricks b. Mike Pierce via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Ivan Menjivar b. Nick Pace via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Chad Mendes b. Rani Yahya via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alexander Gustafsson b. Matt Hamill via TKO (strikes) at 3:34 of Round Two
Rory MacDonald b. Mike Pyle via TKO (strikes) at 3:54 of Round One
Constantinos Philippou b. Jorge Rivera via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Brian Ebersole b. Dennis Hallman via TKO (strikes) at 4:28 of Round One
Vitor Belfort b. Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO (strikes) at 1:52 of Round One
Rashad Evans b. Tito Ortiz via TKO (strikes) at 4:48 of Round Two