Leg injury knocks Rashad Evans out of UFC 170 co-main event with Daniel Cormier

The UFC 170 card has been hit by its fair share of injuries, but this one hurts.

A leg injury has knocked Rashad Evans (21-3-1 MMA, 14-3-1 UFC) out of his co-main event bout against Daniel Cormier (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at next week’s card in Las Vegas. UFC officials announced the news Wednesday night.

UFC 170 takes place Feb. 22 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. The card is headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between champion Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann.

The UFC said the late nature of the injury will mean no replacement fighter will be sought for Cormier, nor will there be a replacement fight added to the event, which now will be complete with 10 fights instead of 11. The UFC did not announce which fight from the preliminary card will move up onto the pay-per-view portion of the show. A welterweight bout between Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia now becomes the co-feature.

The news came just about six hours after Evans wrapped up a media-only conference call, on which he discussed his fight against Cormier. No mention of the injury was made on the call.

Specifics of Evans’ leg injury were not revealed. However, the UFC retreated news from Yahoo! Sports reporter Kevin Iole, who said that UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told him Evans would not require surgery, but would need a month’s worth of rehab.

Evans was going after his third straight win and was tasked with welcoming his longtime friend Cormier to the light heavyweight division for the first time. Cormier was moving down from his longtime heavyweight home, where he won the Strikeforce grand prix in 2012.

With the cancellation, the UFC 170 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann – for women’s bantamweight title
• Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia
• Mike Pyle vs. T.J. Waldburger
• Stephen Thompson vs. Robert Whittaker

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Alexis Davis vs. Jessica Eye
• Raphael Assuncao vs. Pedro Munhoz
• Cody Gibson vs. Aljamain Sterling
• Zach Makovsky vs. Josh Sampo

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)

• Erik Koch vs. Rafaello Oliveira
• Ernest Chavez vs. Yosdenis Cedeno

For the latest on UFC 170, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Rashad Evans)