Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz Headlines UFC 133 in Philly

The event poster for UFC 133 depicted above is now officially worthless. UFC president Dana White has just announced Tito Ortiz will serve as a last-minute substitute and headline the August 6th pay-per-view broadcast opposite Rashad Evans.

“Get ready philly for Rashad Evans vs Tito Ortiz!!! Aug 6th LIVE on PPV at the Wells Fargo Center!!!!!!” White tweeted moments ago.

The rumor mill ran rampant Tuesday with all sorts of creative possibilities after Phil Davis was forced out of the main event with a knee injury. In addition to Ortiz, Lyoto Machida was the other prominent name to hit the MMA grapevine. Both 205-pounders initially declined the rematch due to the last-minute invite, but it appears “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will now give it a go.

“Only for the UFC!” Ortiz posted on his Twitter account.

Ortiz is exactly 11 days removed from his unexpected 1stRound arm-in guillotine submission win over Ryan Bader at UFC 132 and has been whooping it up in Las Vegas ever since. He capped off his extended celebratory party Monday night with a trip to Ronald McDonald’s famed restaurant.

Although it’s not necessarily the regimen of a finely tuned athlete that’s preparing for battle, the future Hall of Famer believes 24 days will be enough time to prepare his 36-year-old body for the quick turnaround.

Evans holds an impressive 15-1-1 record, but has been out of action since defeating bitter rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 114 in May 2010.

Ortiz and Evans fought to a controversial draw at UFC 73 in September 2007. Ortiz went on to lose three of his next four contests, while “Suga” has rattled of wins in five of his last six outings en route to winning and losing the 205-pound crown.

The Wells Fargo Center in Pennsylvania will host the Octagon’s highly anticipated return to Philly.

Here is the card’s finalized roster:

Preliminary Bouts:

Rafael Natal vs. Costantinos Phillippou

Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan

Mike Pierce vs. Johny Hendricks

Nick Pace vs. Ivan Menjivar

Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman

(Spike TV 8PM ET/5PM PT)

Rani Yahya vs. Chad Mendes

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

Main Bouts:

(Pay-Per-View 9PM ET/6PM PT)

Mike Pyle vs. Rory MacDonald

Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara

Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Rich Franklin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz