Phil Davis Steps in for Bones Jones against Rashad Evans at UFC 133 in Philadelphia

Added on Apr 25, 2011 by Brian Blake in

UFC & MMA

It would appear that the fighting Gods just don’t want former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad “Suga” Evans to regain the title he once held. He was scheduled to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title last month in New Jersey but a knee injury to Evans prevented that from happening while allowing his teammate Jon “Bones” Jones to step in and would ultimately claim the light heavyweight crown.

The night of Jones’ crowning as the new champion it was announced that the former Jackson’s Submission Fighting teammates would then take eachother on in early August in the main event of UFC 133. Once again injury struck preventing Evans from a chance at regaining his old title. This time suffered by current 205 lb. champion Jones as he apparently has torn a ligament in his thumb bringing his training to a halt.

It was announced today by the UFC that Evans will now be taking on another impressive youngster in Phil Davis in a light heavyweight title eliminator on August 6 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadephia, PA.

Evans, The Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner, has been out of action since May of 2010 when he earned a unanimous decision victory in his much anticipated three round grudge match with nemesis Quinton “Rampage” Jackson following their coaching stints in a season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.

Davis, aka Mr. Wonderful, has been quite a bit more active than his upcoming opponent having fought three times since Evans has been on the shelf going 3-0 in the past year.

His most recent victory took place in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington where he earned a one sided unanimous decision.

In both Evans and Davis you have two highly experienced wrestlers with NCAA Division-1 pedigrees and while Davis holds the advantage in age the edge in experience goes to Evans without a doubt.

Come August it’s anyone’s guess as to how the fight will unfold, but you can rest assured that with a shot at Jones and his title at stake that both men are going to hit eachother with everything but the kitchen sink.

And when it’s all said and done, hopefully for the sake of the fighters and fans alike, injuries won’t be coming into play and the MMA world will be able to bear witness to the rightful challenger getting a long awaited crack at the coveted title.