First news on the event and Lesnar may not be there after all. However Chuck is... Roll on the press events.
Although the UFC reportedly considered Brock Lesnar for the main event, a UFC 85 event set for June 14 in London will instead feature a headline light-heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC) and Mauricio Shogun Rua (16-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC).
We mentioned the possibility of that fight last week, and since then, the fighters have confirmed with a number of media outlets that the fight is a done-deal. MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) spoke to a source close to contender Keith Jardine (who was once considered a possible opponent for both fighters), who confirmed that the UFC opted for the Liddell-Rua bout instead.
UFC 85 takes place at Londons O2 Arena, the same 16,000-capacity venue that hosted this past Septembers UFC 75 event.
MMAjunkie.com first reported the event when rising contender Marcus Davis (14-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), whos riding an 11-fight win streak, mentioned he had already been booked for the event. Additionally, just prior to Saturdays loss to Frank Mir, Lesnar was reportedly in the running to headline the event.
Instead, itll be Liddell vs. Rua.
Liddell, who won the UFCs light-heavyweight title at UFC 52, made four successful title defenses before a loss to Quinton Jackson this past May. He then dropped a split decision to Jardine in September for the first back-to-back losses of his career. However, he rebounded for a unanimous-decision victory over Wanderlei Silva in the co-main event of UFC 79 back in December.
The 26-year-old Rua made his octagon debut at UFC 76 and suffered an upset submission loss (via rear-naked choke) to Forrest Griffin. Prior to the bout, the Brazilian PRIDE veteran had won 12 of 13 fights. He recently underwent knee surgery but has returned to training.
Also expected to take part ay UFC 85 is Brandon Vera (according to 15rounds.com).
Prior to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueiras victory over Tim Sylvia earlier this month, UFC President Dana White said that Fabricio Werdum would likely get the next shot at the title. However, it now appears hell first have to get by Brandon Vera (8-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
Werdum and Vera are slated to battle at UFC 85, an event that takes place June 7 at the O2 Arena in London, according to a report from The Fight Network.
According to the report, bout agreements have not been signed.
Werdum, a former PRIDE Fighting Championships fighter, signed with the UFC last year. He was considered an instant heavyweight contender (fresh off a first-round submission victory over Aleksander Emelianenko), but after a lackluster loss to Andrei Arlovski at UFC 70, Werdum seemingly fell off the UFCs radar. After an eight-month layoff, though, he finally returned at UFC 80 in January and scored a stunning second-round TKO of UFC heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga.
Vera, meanwhile, began his UFC career with three straight victories before he earned a bout with Frank Mir. Although questions marks still surrounded the brash youngster, Vera defeated the former UFC heavyweight with a first-round TKO at UFC 65. The November 2006 fight would be his last for nearly a year, though, as he worked out issues with his former management. Vera was supposed to fight then-champ Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 nearly a year ago, but with the issues still unresolved, Randy Couture got the fight instead.
Vera last competed at UFC 77 this past October, where he suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Sylvia. After the fight, Vera stated that he had suffered a broken hand early in the fight.
With Shogun currently injured Liddell is without an opponent. This from Gerweck on the issue
-UFC.com announced Mauricio "Shogun" Rua reinjured the same knee he had surgery on following his fight with Forrest Griffin in September 2007 and will have to withdraw from his bout with Chuck Liddell which was going to headline UFC 85 on 6/7/08 in London, England. Many fans were wondering why the UFC announced Chuck Liddell was fighting on the 6/7 card but never mentioned Shogun's name during last Saturday's UFC 82 event. Now we know why.
The question is which Light Heavyweight will replace Shogun to fight Chuck Liddell on 6/7?
- Keith Jardien vs. W Silva and, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida are official for UFC 84 on 5/24.
- Forrest Griffin's dance card has Rampage's name all over it for 7/5/08.
- Stephan Bonnar just had surgery on his knee.
-James Irving vs. Houston Alexander and, Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch are signed for the 4/2/08 Fight Night event.
-Even though these two fights are not official, Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva and Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Sokourdjou are heavily rumored to take place at UFC 84 on 5/24. Being that the UFC never officially announced either fight they could scrap one of the fights and have someone step in.
It will be interesting to see what the UFC dose for this fight. For me personally I would like to see Sodourdjou or Houston Alexander againstr the Iceman. Alexander is highly unlikely at this point because of fight night. Would they also want to risk Sodouro a second loss against the Iceman? Also, how marketable is that fight anyway... Could be a bit of an anti-climax for the UFC.... Shame Bisping isn't still LHW then you would have an instant hit on your hands...
Shogun vs. Chuck would have been great, but it's even better that we'll now get to see if Evans is for real. Remember that Rashad beat Jardine, and Jardine beat Chuck. That actually means nothing, but I'm just saying...
__________________
I am an MMA columnist for CPC Movies. Click on the banner to view this the current edition of my column.
Bad Bad news, Liddell is out of UFC 85 with a badly torn hamstring... I have no idea how they are going to headline this now..... Who on earth are they going to get whose going to sell tickets for the main event?
Matt Hughes Vs. Thiago Alves Michael Bisping Vs. Jason Day (Replacement for Chris Leben after he got sent to jail) Marcus Davis Vs. Mike Swick Rashad Evans Vs. James Irvin Fabricio Werdum Vs. Brandon Vera Jorge Rivera Vs. Martin Kampmann Nate Marquardt Vs. Thales Leites Matt Wiman Vs. Thiago Tavares Roan Carneiro Vs. Ryo Chonan Jason Lambert Vs. Luiz Cane Antoni Hardonk Vs. Neil Wain Paul Taylor Vs. Jess Liaudin
Looking forward to Bisping's fight as always. Davis Vs. Swick will be a good quick fight, Hughes Alves is an intresting matchup too. Not sure which way to call that one....
Well, just got back from the UFC Press Conference and found out that
a) Bisping will face Leben at UFC 89 in October in Birmingham, UK
b) Matt Hughes (Who hadn't had a good night's sleep and was missing his kids) will get Matt Serra (Finally) Win, Lose or Draw next.
c) Chuck Liddell turned up unannounced and is a legend.
d) Fabrico Werdem's crew are a bunsh of vandals as they broke the TV in the foyer messing around with it trying to get it to play Fabrico's clips in a loop
and e) Marcus Davies and Mike Swick are going for fight of the night on Saturday.