Former light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has been forced to withdraw from his bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Ultimate Fight Night 24 on March 26, and undefeated Phil Davis will take his place. Dana White announced Ortiz's injury and the swap of opponents via his Twitter account yesterday.
Nogueira's last contest was a unanimous decision loss to wrestler Ryan Bader at UFC 119, his first in the Octagon since signing with the UFC. Nogueira joined his twin brother, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, amongt the UFC ranks in November of 2009 and started impressively with a 1st round KO of Luis Cane and a close win over Jason Brilz. At 19-4 overall, "Little Nog's" record still shines, having fallen to only Bader, Sokoudjou and "Shogun" Rua in Pride, and Vladimir Matyushenko in Nogueira's fourth pro-fight.
Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis has been on fire. He entered the UFC flawless with only four pro-fights of his own, and proceeded to double his victories with wins over Brian Stann, Alexander Gustaffsson, Rodney Wallace, and Tim Boetsch. Davis handed Boetsch his first submission loss with a modified kimura, and for not having much experience, is proving to be a quickly rising and multi-faceted talent.
Nogueira will offer, by far, the highest level of competition that Davis has ever encountered.
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