Unable to find a replacement for injured Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the UFC has pulled Rich Franklin from the UFC 133 fight card and promoted Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama to co-headline the August 6 event in Philadelphia.
A welterweight matchup between veterans Dennis Hallman and Brian Ebersole was moved up from the prelims to fill the pay-per-view main card.
UFC 133 is headlined by light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans vs. former champ Tito Ortiz, while the event’s entire preliminary card will again be aired, including a pair of bouts on Spike TV and the remaining prelims on Facebook.
