UFC 133: Tito Ortiz Set To Face Rashad Evans

Written by Jake Thompson
Thursday, 14 July 2011 03:04

Tito Ortiz has surprisingly been slated to take on Rashad Evans in the main event at UFC 133.

Rashad Evans (15-1-1) was originally set to take on Phil Davis in the UFC 133 main event, but Tito Ortiz (16-8-1) has now agreed to step in after an injury forced a change in the fight.  This is a rematch from UFC 73 when Ortiz and Evans ended up with a draw after “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was penalized a point for grabbing the fence in a bout that he otherwise would have taken on the judge's scorecards.

Ortiz is coming off a submission victory over a top contender in Ryan Bader at UFC 132, and originally turned down the offer to take on Evans when it was offered.  Instead the fight was given to Lyoto Machida who had previously defeated Evans by way of knockout at UFC 98.

Unfortunately, Machida apparently felt that the lack of time to prepare was not worth it to him unless he was getting paid at a high amount, and the Brazilian turned down the shot.  Ortiz had a change of heart after hearing of Machida’s withdrawal, and decided to accept the fight after all.

It’s been a strange journey for both of these fighters recently, with Evans not fighting in over a year and Ortiz being a loss away from being cut from the UFC completely just two weeks ago.  Ortiz managed to pull the upset and is now a win away from title contention, while Evans was originally slated to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light heavyweight title before teammate Jon “Bones” Jones seized the opportunity when Rashad was injured.  Evans was then set to square off against Jones for the title before the champion pulled out with an injury that needed surgery, only to decide to pass on surgery after a fight for Rashad was already booked with Davis.  Jones will now face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the title despite the fact that the challenger lost to Evans' during Rashad's last fight in the octagon.

According to the mixed martial arts bookmakers, it appears that Ortiz will have another tough task on his hands after being close to a 4/1 betting underdog against Bader.  Sportsbooks have already opened up Evans as the -500 wagering favorite and you’ll have to wait until a few days before the August 6th date of UFC 133 for our predictions on all of the main card fights.