(Props: mmapain)

Once in a while, a singular talent will arise and utterly dominate this sport. He comes out of nowhere, immediately starts whipping top-ranked fighters with years’ more experience, and leaves both fans and his opponents in awe of his abilities. Jon Jones is that guy right now. And nobody knows how fleeting that moment is better than Lyoto Machida, whose invincible aura (and “era“) went up in smoke as quickly as it arrived.

That’s what gives Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida such a great storyline for their meeting on December 10th in Toronto. Besides Machida’s unorthodox style, which could be an effective counter to Bones’s own funky attacks, the Dragon stands as a living reminder that nobody is invincible — seriously, not even Jon Jones — and defeat is simply a matter of running into the wrong guy on the wrong night.

Five years ago a Cameroon national judo team member by the name of “Sokoudjou” shocked the world by taking out highly-touted PRIDE veterans Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. One fight prior to his coming out party, “The African Assassin” met up with an equally tough Brazilian named Glover Texeira, who at the time was training with UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell at “The Pit” in San Luis Obispo, CA. Texeira utilized his superior stand-up to test Sokoudjou’s chin and let’s just say that Rameau’s jaw wasn’t prepared for the pop quiz.

Texeira has been on the UFC’s radar for some time. Chuck Liddell told me a year ago that the light heavyweight, who sometimes moonlights as a heavyweight would likely be Octagon-bound as soon as he sorted out his visa issues, but he’s been stuck in holding pattern fighting on regional Brazilian cards. Hopefully the 31-year-old makes it Stateside some time soon. The UFC’s light heavyweight class could use a shake-up.

You’re telling me that Ortiz found a hat that fits him? Nice try, photoshop.

The UFC has announced that a light-heavyweight fight between Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been added to UFC 140. This marks the second time that the two have agreed to fight each other. Originally, the two were supposed to meet in the main event of March’s UFC Fight Night. However, Tito Ortiz withdrew from the fight due to a concussion, and was replaced by Phil Davis.

Both fighters are in serious need of a victory if they want to stay relevant in the UFC. While Ortiz managed to pull off an upset victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, he went on to get thoroughly dominated by Rashad Evans (save for a guillotine attempt in the second round) at UFC 133. Tito Ortiz is now 1-5-1 in his last seven fights. Likewise, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is riding a two fight losing streak of his own. After losing to Ryan Bader at UFC 119, Nogueira was outclassed by Phil Davis during March’s UFC Fight Night. If we’re not counting his controversial victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 114, Nogueira hasn’t won since punching out Luiz Cane at UFC 106 in November 2009.

Fight card for UFC 140 after the jump.

If this wasn’t the perfect chance to pull the ol’ switcheroo, I don’t know what is. (Pic: MMAFight.com)

Just as other cards have been steadily beefing up their rosters, UFC 133 has taken another major hit. The UFC announced last night that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has pulled out of his bout against Rich Franklin due to a shoulder injury.

The promotion now finds itself in the exact position it was in only days ago when an injury to Phil Davis sent them scrambling to find a suitable light heavyweight replacement for their main event bout. It was slim pickings at that time, with Machida attempting to ransom off his services for “Anderson Silva money” and Tito taking the fight after initially turning it down. They now have three weeks to sign a replacement or remove Franklin from the card.

Machida’s reasons for turning down the Evans bout—namely short notice and the need to relocate his entire training camp to the US—have only been exacerbated at this point with even fewer days on the calendar. Of course, maybe he’s willing to suck it up after Dana was vocal about his feelings on the matter. Middleweights Chris Leben and Chael Sonnen had also volunteered their services, but Sonnen now has a dance partner. Could we see “The Crippler” make the jump to 205lbs to take a swing at another legend?

Barring something completely crazy and unexpected, the fight card for UFC 133 on August 6 in Philadelphia is set in place. Yesterday, the UFC officially announced the addition of a middleweight clash between Rafael Natal and Constantinos Philippou to the prelims. Rafael Natal is coming off of a majority draw against Jesse Bongfeldt at UFC 124, while Constantinos Philippou lost his UFC debut against Nick Catone at UFC 128.

Even though both middleweights are still searching for their first UFC victories, this bout is likely to appeal to the local fans. Both fighters are veterans of Atlantic City’s Ring of Combat, amassing a combined record of 10-2, with one no contest within the promotion.

UFC 133 will be headlined by a light heavyweight fight between Phil Davis and Rashad Evans. Also set for this card is throwback between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the return of Vitor Belfort against Yoshihiro Akiyama and another attempt at the ill-fated Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara scrap. Not to mention the other seven fights listed after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ncaasteve)

- 8 mothers who don’t deserve Mother’s Day (ModernMan)

- The 7 Least Intimidating MMA Nicknames (Clutch.MTV)

- 2011 summer movie preview (Bullz-Eye)

- Interview with UFC 129 doctor Jason Su (Sportsnet)

- Infographic: superhero movies, by the numbers (BamKapow)

- Car accident forces Del Rosario off of Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum card (MMAJunkie)

- 7 sports “feats” any average guy could do (Guyism)

- Wanderlei Silva wants 10 more fights (MiddleEasy)

- Mosley hasn’t run out of ‘Sugar’ time (TheRugged)

- FTW: how to build a fire without matches (MadeMan)

- Coach says lil’ Nog’ happy to fight Franklin and Big Nog’ will join him on the UFC Rio card if he’s healthy (Tatame)

- Dexter going back to the basics (ScreenJunkies)

- Rashad Evans talks Jones, Shogun and new camp (FightersOnly)

- Midnight gifs (HolyTaco)

(“Tell us again how you chased down that robber and held him until the cops came. That was awesome.”)

An undisclosed injury he is currently rehabbing coupled with a desire to get bigger, better, stronger and faster the next time he steps into the Octagon has prompted UFC light heavyweight prospect Phil Davis to take a brief hiatus from fighting until late 2011.

“Mr. Wonderful” told MMAJunkie recently that besides the nagging injury he is nursing, the other reason why he is stepping away from competing for the time being is to take a look at his last performance — a win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira last month at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis — and figure out how he could have performed better.

“I really want to make some huge gains inside the gym before I step back in. I’m ready to take one step back,” Davis said. “I’ve got three steps ahead of me. I’ve got one step back, then two forward. That might sound like the cha-cha. But pow – there it is.”

Way to make us all look like underachievers, Phil.

(Meanwhile, Christian Morecraft picked up $500 for “Freakishly Long Tongue of the Night.” / Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The competitors at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 24: Nogueira vs. Davis card earned a total of $757,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses, according to figures released by the Washington State Department of Licensing. Preliminary card fighter Johny Hendricks actually walked away with the biggest check of the night, earning $99,000 for 95 seconds of work against TJ Waldburger. Check out the full salary list below; keep in mind that the figures don’t include deductions for taxes, licensing fees, or insurance, or additional revenue from sponsorships and undisclosed “locker room bonuses.”

Phil Davis: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $90,000

Anthony Johnson: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Hardy: $25,000

Amir Sadollah: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. DaMarques Johnson: $14,000

Future champ? Pffff…Davis didn’t even have the courage to challenge a teammate after his victory.

Oh, fans, why do we do this to ourselves? We’ve been here so many times before, yet we never learn our lesson. We’ve declared the Brock Era, the Machida Era, and the Bones Era, but the only era we’re really in is one of unrealistic expectations. With his win over Lil’ Nog last night, Phil Davis extends his record to a perfect 9-0, with five of those victories coming in the past thirteen months, but it isn’t enough, is it? No, not when some of the most recognizable faces in the sport are created in 12 short episodes of reality tv. Not when Jon Jones violently takes the belt at the age of 23. Last night Phil Davis struggled with his takedowns. His standup still needs work. He failed to rag doll Nogueira and put him away with a freshly minted submission. He looked {gasp} like an evolving fighter.

Not long ago it would have been enough for an up and coming prospect just over two years into his career to take out a highly respected MMA veteran on the sport’s biggest stage, but that’s not the world we live in. Maybe there were just too many similarities between Davis and Jones to let the comparisons slide. They’re both young fighters with very impressive wrestling. They were both undefeated (yeah, screw that Hamill thing) headed into their last fight on short notice against a far more experienced Brazilian legend. Yeah, they even kind of look alike too. What we saw last night is that there’s only one Jon Jones, but that doesn’t mean “Mr. Wonderful” didn’t display the qualities that make a champion.

(Leonard Garcia [left] paid Tim Burton $3,250 for that custom-made zombie-head. And still, the crowd cheered harder for Dan Hardy’s ironic Charlie Sheen t-shirt. There’s just no accounting for taste. / Photos courtesy of the UFC Fight Night 24 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Just think: If not for a completely unexpected injury, you’d all be watching Tito Ortiz‘s big comeback tonight — or not watching it, depending on your current interest level in Tito Ortiz. Instead, Phil Davis gets a shot at the big time, and Tito’s retirement fight is delayed until July. Anyway, we’ve got a solid lineup of free fights on Spike TV, kicking off at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT with Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung 2, Revenge of the Zombie. We’re excited, and we hope you are as well. Round-by-round results can be found after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Thanks for coming.