MMA Roundup: Phil Davis Injured, Machida, BJ Penn

In the sport of mixed martial arts, injuries are like hemorrhoids, being that they are a pain in the ass to all of us who follow the fight game. That’s really where the similarities end, so maybe it’s not the best comparison, but that’s not the point. The point is that we have even more injury-related news in a year that’s been full of that kind of crap, as well as some other little tidbits you’ll want to read up on. Read on to find out what’s going on with Phil Davis, as well as whether Machida-Ortiz 2 could happen, and why we won’t be seeing Penn-Fitch 2.

Phil Davis forced out of UFC 133

According to a report from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani published a short time ago, we’re going to have yet another high-profile UFC fight scratched due to a training camp injury. Phil Davis has apparently sustained a knee injury, and won’t be fighting Rashad Evans at UFC 133 as a result. While the UFC hasn’t officially announced this news, they are expected to do so shortly.

With the event going down in just a few weeks on August 6, it is not yet known who Evans would be fighting now that Davis is out. The co-main event is currently Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, which could obviously now be the main event if no one is available to take on Evans. I know Lyoto Machida has been looking for a fight, but would he fight Evans again on such short notice?

Machida against Tito Ortiz again?

All of us amateur matchmakers have been busy reassessing the next fights for a number of guys in the UFC light heavyweight division now that Tito Ortiz has upset Ryan Bader, and one that seems to make sense is Ortiz taking on Lyoto Machida a second time. What does Machida think, though?

Fighters Only reports that Machida was supposed to take on Bader if he was victorious against Ortiz, which didn’t happen, of course. It would seem to make sense to have Machida and Ortiz face one another, then, but it wouldn’t be the title eliminator that Machida-Bader would have been, since Ortiz has now won his first fight in five years.

Still, if it will move him closer to a title shot, Machida’s interested. “If it is a really interesting thing, it can happen. Not financially interesting but interesting in the sense of, if it would move me forward, closer to the title. Then I would surely take that fight,” Machida said.

That would be fine and all, but I think I’d rather see Ortiz-Griffin if we’re going to get a high profile Tito rematch. I think I’d even be more interested in Ortiz-Evans again, too. I just don’t see how Tito can do much to change what happened in the first bout he had with “The Dragon”.

Quick Shots

–The latest UFC cuts have some surprises, as we’ve come to expect. Andre Winner and John Howard are the two latest victims, and they’re not surprises when it comes to the recent results of the two men, as they’ve both lost three in a row. However, they are pretty solid names, and Howard won four in a row before losing three straight, so he still has a winning record in the organization, to boot. His three losses have been a doctor’s stoppage loss to Jake Ellenberger and decision losses to Thiago Alves and most recently, Matt Brown. Not a terrible stretch, really (particularly the losses to Alves and Ellenberger) and I’d have liked the UFC to keep him around for another fight or two. That’s the way they do things nowadays, though: if you lose a few in a row, you’re generally out, even if you lose to high-level fighters in competitive fashion.

–Apparently, BJ Penn and Carlos Condit are setting up their own fights, as Condit challenged Penn on Twitter and Penn accepted and even gave a specific date they could do it (October 29th). Jon Fitch was not pleased, as he wants another go with Penn, and said so, telling Penn that he “broke my heart”, adding “I thought you were a man of principle.” Penn responded, saying that Joe Silva doesn’t want the fight and he doesn’t think that the fans do, either. Hey, slow down, Joe. I wouldn’t mind it, as long as it was a five-rounder. I don’t see how a three-rounder gives us a definitive winner any better than the last one did. Still, Penn-Condit is a good fight, too.

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Tags: Andre Winner, BJ Penn, Carlos Condit, John Howard, Jon Fitch, Lyoto Machida, Phil Davis, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, UFC, UFC 133