UFC on FOX 2 co-headliners feature Evans-Davis, Sonnen-Munoz in title eliminators
by Dann Stupp on Dec 03, 2011



The UFC's second network-televised event on FOX has its co-headliners.

UFC officials today announced that next month's UFC on FOX 2 event will feature light-heavyweight contenders Rashad Evans (16-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) vs. Phil Davis (9-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC and middleweights Chael Sonnen (26-11-1 MMA, 5-4 UFC) vs. Mark Munoz (12-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC).

Evans vs. Davis will be contested as a five-round non-title fight, a UFC official confirmed with MMAjunkie.com. Both fights determine No. 1 contenders.

The event takes place Jan. 28 at United Center in Chicago, and at least three fights are expected to air as part of the night's FOX-televised main card.

MMAjunkie.com previously reported the Evans vs. Davis matchup, though Sonnen denied the possibility of the long-rumored Munoz fight in recent weeks.

UFC on FOX 2 is the first official event that's part of the UFC's landmark seven-year deal with FOX. However, this past month, UFC on FOX 1 served as a sort of teaser show. Junior Dos Santos knocked out and claimed the heavyweight title from Cain Velasquez in the night's only televised bout, which set an MMA ratings record in the U.S. with an average audience of 5.7 million viewers and a peak of 8.8 million for the 64-second title fight.

UFC officials will kick off the promotional efforts for UFC on FOX 2 this coming Wednesday (1 p.m. CT local time) with a press conference at United Center. It's free and open to the public.

Evans, a former UFC light-heavyweight champion, was expected to meet Davis at UFC 133, but a knee injury forced Davis to the sidelines. Evans went on to defeat replacement Tito Ortiz and was expected to face former teammate and current titleholder Jon Jones in December, but a lingering hand injury forced "Suga" to withdraw from the matchup. Jones now faces Lyoto Machida in the main event of next week's UFC 140 event. Davis brings a perfect career mark to the matchup. The four-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler fought most recently in a March unanimous-decision win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and also boasts UFC wins over Tom Boetsch, Rodney Wallace, Alexander Gustafsson and Brian Stann.

Sonnen, meanwhile, appeared on a collision course and rematch with current champion Anderson Silva following a UFC 136 destruction of Stann. But with the champ slowed by a shoulder injury, the outspoken showman instead will look for his fifth win in six fights when he takes on Munoz, a fellow NCAA Division I All-American wrestler who's shot into title contention on the strength of a four-fight win streak, which includes a two-round beatdown of Chris Leben in this past month's UFC 138 headliner.