Too soon?
Despite an initial report we passed along late last night from Head Kick Legend, it turns out Lyoto Machida will NOT be fighting Rashad Evans at UFC 133 on Aug. 6 in Philadelphia.
Caju Freitas brings word from camp "Dragon:"
"The fight is very close and for a professional matter we can't accept it. We want to make the best match and there is remaining just a few weeks and it wouldn't be fair with the fans to do a bad performance."
In addition, manager Ed Soares told Tatame.com the fight won't happen, for pretty much the same reasons outlined above.
Machida was asked to replace Phil Davis on the UFC 133 fight card after "Mr. Wonderful" blew out his knee in training. The Brazilian, who owns a knockout victory over Evans from 2009, was the second fighter to decline a rematch against "Suga" after Tito Ortiz passed on the opportunity when news first broke of the damaged line-up.
Any light heavyweights training at AMA Fight Club?
Rashad just can't catch a break, enduring what has to be the longest and most grueling roller coaster ride in the past year for any contemporary UFC fighter -- and he hasn't even stepped foot inside the Octagon.
After defeating Quinton Jackson at UFC 114, he rode the bench for nearly an entire year, turning down fights along the way, so as to avoid losing out on his title shot, which he earned with the victory over "Rampage" in May 2010.
He ended up losing out on it anyway when he suffered a knee injury just six weeks out from a showdown with then-Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 earlier this year.
His teammate at the time, Jon Jones, stepped in and won the title, setting up a mega-feud fueled by jealousy, anger and resentment on both sides. With all the heat and history, the match-up was a guaranteed moneymaker and would have easily been the fight of the year.
But, once again, fate struck and "Bones" suffered an injury that forced him to temporarily freeze his future fight plans. Rather than make the same mistake twice, Evans quickly agreed to take on Davis and get back to business.
Meanwhile, Jones had a change of heart and elected to not have surgery on his hand and was subsequently booked to battle Jackson later this year.
That leaves Evans without a date to the big dance in Philly ... unless any fantasy matchmakers out there have some input?
Who can we find to fill in for Phil Davis at UFC 133? Is it time to make a call to someone in Strikeforce?
(MMAmania.com's Brazilian correspondent Eduardo Cruz contributed to this report)
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