A third light heavyweight in a week has been forced to withdraw from UFC 133 - Dana White confirmed today via Twitter that Antonio Rogerio Nogueria is out of the August 6 fight against Rich Franklin due to an injury. The bout will not replaced, and the Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama bout will be moved to the co-main event slot, while the welterweight battle between Dennis Hallman and Brian Ebersole has been moved to the main card.
Obviously Rich Franklin must be very disappointed, along with all the fans that wanted to see him compete. Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman is a curious choice to promote to the main card though. Even if they wanted to keep the Spike bouts intact, you'd think that it would make more sense to put Mike Pierce vs. Johny Hendricks, which is a much more relevant welterweight fight, in a spot like that. Either way, hopefully the card can escape any further injuries before it goes down on August 6th.
