Tito Ortiz (16-8-1 MMA, 15-8-1 UFC) has replaced injured Phil Davis (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) and now meets Rashad Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) in the headliner of next month's UFC 133 event.The light-heavyweight fight is now official, and the event has been renamed "UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz."
It takes place Aug. 6 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and the main card airs on pay-per-view.
The bout came about after a daylong fiasco on Wednesday. With Davis out due to a knee injury, the UFC sought a replacement. As UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com, Lyoto Machida initially accepted the bout before his team came back, and according to White, demanded pay similar to that issued to UFC middleweight champ and pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.
That incensed the fight executive.
"I said, 'Are you [expletive] kidding me?" he said. "'I'll tell you what. You tell Machida (if) he achieves what [expletive] Anderson Silva has achieved, then maybe he'll make Anderson Silva money. Have a nice day.'"
Ortiz, who initially turned down the fight, then offered to take the short-notice slot once he learned Machida was out.
White said that even with a loss, Ortiz is in no danger of losing his job because of that decision.
"The storyline is what's so interesting," White said. "Tito went from, 'You're about to be cut,' to now, if he beats Rashad Evans, he's back in the mix. He's back in the picture."
Ortiz and Evans met four years prior at UFC 73 and fought to a draw, though the decision was a result of a point deduction given to Ortiz when he grabbed the fence in the second round of the fight; the bout otherwise would have been scored in his favor.
Ortiz, of course, comes into the rematch after a triumphant victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, which was his first victory in five years. He'll have just 35 days between fights.
