Due to a fluke knee injury just last week, UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans (20-1-1) could see his fight career change dramatically.

Evans, 31, was scheduled to challenge light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (19-4) at March 19th's UFC 128 event. However, he suffered the knee injury (sprained MCL) during a training session which will sideline him 4-8 weeks forcing him to pull out of the title fight that was just six weeks away.

The unfortunate situation is compounded by the fact that his teammate and training partner, the phenom Jon Jones who defeated Ryan Bader at last weekend's UFC 126, is replacing him in the title fight against Rua.

Like most training partners, Evans operates under a code in which training partners don't fight other training partners. And considering Jones has a very real shot at beating Rua and taking the belt -- as he is one of the best talents in the division already at 23 years of age -- Evans could be left in limbo at 205 pounds being unable and unwilling to fight for the title.

"(Evans) said he doesn't want to fight Jon and I respect that," said Evans' co-manager Malki Kawa to MMA Junkie. "If he still feels that way after two or three fights, or after Jones wins or loses the belt, there's a lot of different options."

Those options most likely include Evans at middleweight which has always seemed to be a much better fit for him.

According to Evans and Kawa, his options include dropping to middleweight or possibly a move up to heavyweight where he began his career as a cast member in The Ultimate Fighter season 2.

"Rashad wants to fight for a championship," Kawa said. "He doesn't want some regular fights or whoever it might be. A fight that interests me a lot, and I thought would be a really big payday for him, is a fight with Anderson (Silva)."

Obviously Silva is the champion at 185 and would be a fight that would make sense for Evans once he moves to middleweight as well as for both fighter's legacies.

Florian drops to Featherweight

Another top UFC fighter, lightweight Kenny Florian (15-5), has already made up his mind on his future.

The Boston native and ESPN MMA Live analyst told ESPN.com earlier this week that he will drop down to featherweight (145 pounds) where former WEC champion Jose Aldo reigns in the UFC currently.

Florian, 34, is coming off of a recent loss to Gray Maynard in a No. 1 contender bout in August. Florian had previously already dropped two lightweight title fights in his career, first against Sean Sherk in October 2006 and then most recently against BJ Penn in August of 2009. He's been the guy to come close but not quite able to get to the proverbial top of the mountain.

After his most recent loss to Maynard, talk of a Aldo fight at 155 popped up and it has been something that has since stuck in Florian's mind since then according to the Boston native.

"I started playing around with the idea: could I make 145? Originally, I didn't think it was possible," Florian told ESPN. "I spoke with a few nutritionists, got their opinions, told them what my body fat was, my walking-around weight, all that stuff and the general consensus was that it was very possible.

"I put a lot of thought into it, spoke with my coaches and everybody involved and decided that I am going to try it. I'm going to go for it."