With Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira out of UFC 108, the Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced the event's scheduled co-headliner, Rashad Evans (13-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) vs. Thiago Silva (14-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), has been moved into the night's main-event slot.
The light heavyweight contest headlines the Jan. 2 card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Although today's announcement said Nogueira, who was slated to fight Cain Velasquez, was forced off the card with a "severe injury to his left elbow," UFC president Dana White on Saturday said the former heavyweight champion also has a "bad" staph infection.
"[Nogueira] got staph infection, bad, to the point now it's in his bloodstream, and he's probably going to have to be hospitalized and intravenously given the antibiotics," White said.
At the time, White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he was unsure if Velasquez would remain on the card. With Evans vs. Silva now in the headliner, Velasquez will likely be shifted to a future card.
That opened the door for Evans, a former champ, and Silva, a longtime 205-pound contender, to take the pay-per-view top spot.
"The bout between Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva is a fight we always talked about as a main event, and now these guys have the chance to headline UFC 108 and kick off the new year in impressive fashion," White stated. "At the same time, we wish Antonio Nogueira a speedy recovery and can't wait for his return."
Evans looks to rebound from the first loss of his five-plus-year career. The 30-year-old lost the UFC's light heavyweight title in May when Lyoto Machida dropped him in the second round of their UFC 98 main-event contest. "The Ultimate Fighter 2" heavyweight winner served as a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter 10" (now airing) and was expected to fight rival coach Quinton Jackson in December. A dispute with White, though, led Jackson to announce his retirement in September.
Silva also recently suffered the lone loss of his career to Machida. After suffering a first-round knockout to "The Dragon" in January, Silva has since bounced back with a TKO win over Keith Jardine at UFC 102. Silva was 13-0 (4-0 in the UFC) prior to loss.
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