It's confirmed. UFC President Dana White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will replace the injured Phil Davis against Rashad Evans at UFC 133 on August 6th. This will be a rematch from their UFC 98 main event in May of 2009 where Machida defeated Evans in the first round via TKO. Here's Iole's confirmation:
UFC 133 Fight Card: Dana White Confirms Lyoto Machida In For Phil Davis
Just got a text from @danawhite. Machida is in vs Suga Rashad, he says #MMAless than a minute ago via Osfoora HD 
Favorite 
Retweet 
Reply
Kevin Iole
KevinI
The news of Machida as Evans’ replacement was first reported late last night by Matthew Roth of Head Kick Legend.
The short-run realities vs. long-run costs are in deep play here. In the immediate run, this may actually improve UFC 133’s pay-per-view and ticket sales. Evans vs. Davis was a competitive match-up, but hardly a promotional blockbuster. A rematch, however, between Evans and Machida offers much more star power and storyline than anything Davis vs. Evans could hope to offer.
However, should Evans lose (and most experts will likely assume Machida can defeat Evans again), the UFC losses out on potential mega-fight between bitter enemies Evans and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
As a side note, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was also offered the fight against Evans, but turned it down. When I asked Ortiz the day after beating Ryan Bader when he'd be ready to fight again, he told me "two weeks":
Luke Thomas: How fast can you turn around if you could game plan?
Tito Ortiz: Two weeks.
Luke Thomas: You could fight at UFC 133, 134, or 135 easily, right?
Tito Ortiz: Whatever they want, I'm ready. I'm healthy, I'm good, no problems. My knee's a little sore from when Ryan kicked the inside of my knee but I checked it so his foot must be killing today. That and his chin.
See More:
