With the main event fight between Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez canceled, due to severe’staph’ infection to Nogueira, the UFC promoted a light-heavyweight bout between Rashad Evans (13-1-1) and Thiago Silva (14-1) to the main event of UFC 108.

The Evans vs. Silva matchup was the co-main event for the Las Vegas event and was moved up on Monday by UFC officials.

The event will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on Jan. 2.

The UFC president announced the main event cancellation on Saturday at the post fight press conference for UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

“[Nogueira] got staph infection, bad, to the point now it’s in his bloodstream, and he’s probably going to have to be hospitalized and intravenously given the antibiotics,” White said.

With that bout canceled, White felt that the Evans vs. Silva bout made sense as it was a fight that deserved it’s own status as a “main event” fight.

“The bout between Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva is a fight we always talked about as a main event, and now these guys have the chance to headline UFC 108 and kick off the new year in impressive fashion,” White stated. “At the same time, we wish Antonio Nogueira a speedy recovery and can’t wait for his return.”

Evans, who can be seen on Wednesday’s as one of this seasons “The Ultimate Fighter” coaches, last fought in May of this year where he lost for the first time in his career to Lyoto Machida. The loss also cost him the UFC light-heavyweight title as he was KO’d in the second round. Evans was to have faced fellow TUF coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in December but Jackson declined the bout in order to film the “A-Team” instead.

Silva is coming off-of a win over Keith Jardine at UFC 102 after suffering his first loss to Machida in January of this year. The Brazilian had won 13 in a row before his knock-out loss to “The Dragon” and is looking for a rematch to avenge the blemish on his record.

The current rumored UFC 108 event card appears as follows:

- Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
- Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga*
- Carlos Condit vs. Paul Daley*
- Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller*
- Martin Kampmann vs. Rory Markham*
- Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout*
- Rafaello Oliveira vs. Sean Sherk*
- Dan Lauzon vs. Cole Miller*
- Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Munoz*
- Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle*

* – Not officially announced