The co-main event is the latest bout to be scratched from the UFC 133 card due to injury, as Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira has withdrawn from his light heavyweight fight against Rich “Ace” Franklin. A bout between Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama now serves as the co-feature.

The embattled August 6th event already underwent a significant change when main event participant Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis suffered an injury and was forced out of his fight with “Suga” Rashad Evans. Former champ Tito Ortiz stepped in to replace Davis and faces Evans in the main event.

As a result of Nogueira’s injury, Franklin will not receive a new opponent and has also been removed from the card. The fight between Belfort and Akiyama now assumes the co-main event slot, while a welterweight matchup between veterans Dennis “Superman” Hallman and Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole moves up to the main card. Both Hallman and Ebersole are coming off of big wins in their most recent fights inside the Octagon. Ebersole debuted in the promotion in February.

UFC 133 takes place on August 6th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former champions “Suga” Rashad Evans and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz.

UFC 133 Fight Card (subject to change):

– “Suga” Rashad Evans vs “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz
– Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
– Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera vs Alessio “Legionarius” Sakara
– Rory “The Waterboy” MacDonald vs Mike “Quicksand” Pyle
– Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole vs Dennis “Superman” Hallman

– Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson vs Matt “The Hammer” Hamill
– Chad “Money” Mendes vs Rani Yahya

– “The Pride of El Salvador” Ivan Menjivar vs Nick Pace
– Johnny Hendricks vs Mike Pierce
– Mike Brown vs Nam Phan
– Rafael “Sapo” Natal vs Constantinos Philippou

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)