The hamstring injury to former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell has forced the promotion to shuffle the UFC 85 deck once again for the show at the 02 Arena in London, England, on June 7.
And while no official announcements have been made about what to expect, MMAmania.com has learned a few things throughout the day.
A 185-pound showdown between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben — a match up we teased earlier this afternoon — is expected to headline the show. In addition, James Irvin has agreed to step up and replace Liddell to take on Evans.
In addition, and this is the shakiest bit of information we are passing along, the show will possibly air on SpikeTV for FREE similar to UFC 75: “Champion vs. Champion.”
If all this pans out — and there is still one fight to be announced — fans would have little to complain about. It’s a solid card even though it may lack a “big” name such as Liddell or Georges St. Pierre.
Stay tuned.
68 Comments »
wanna see how there gonna fix this card this should be interesting
Free. I like that!
Leben vs. Bisping isn’t really main event worthy, but it would be a good main card slugfest.
re-sign a.a. and have him fight big nog. that would more than make up for liddel being scratched.
i agree that would nice
This would actually make for a better card than the pre Chuck injury card. I like this idea a lot.
BW: I pray Arlovski re signs with the UFC, but I have a bad feeling about the situation.
Leben vs. Bisping will be a very entertaining fight, but it isn’t enough to make this event worth paying for, and the same can be said about Evans vs. Irving….However if it airs free on Spike, it will be a nice birthday present to ME from the UFC!!!lol
Overall, there are a few very interesting fights on this card:
Swick vs. Davis, is pointless in the WW division, but it will be a very entertaining stand up war that I expect Swick to win….KO style suckas!lol
Leites vs. Marquardt will be AWESOME!!! I have thales winning by submission… Then again, I never pick against THales Leites!
Rashad vs. irving could be very entertaining but taking the fight is a stupid move by Rashad. rashad’s stock is pretty high right now and fighting Irving is a loose/loose situation. If Rashad wins….so what, Irving is not a top 10 LHW. If he looses, it will really mess up all the progress he has made in his young career.
Werdum vs. Verra will also be a very interesting fight. I havent properly analyzed the fight yet and it will be a close one. My oppinion may change but my initial prediction is Werdum via decision.
Correction:
I expect, Marcus Davis to KO Swick!
Rashad vs Bisping was a Main Event in New Jersey.
ONLY because of that, I can understand (from the UFC’s point of view) to have Bisping vs Leben be the Main Event in England. It sucks for most fans…
Posts are taking about a half hour to go through, so I do not know if this got posted… I said something along the lines of:
The UFC has already booked Bisping in a PPV Main Event. He fought Evans ins the Main Event of a PPV in New Jersey of all places. So if the UFC brass is willing to do that, why wouldn’t they book Bisping vs Leben as the Main Event in England? Rashad and Leben are both stars from the early TUF days, and actually, I think Leben has more fans than Rashad. With Leben, people either love him or hate him. Either way, you have an opinion about him (if you hate him, you are rooting for him to get KO’d). On the other hand, Rashad Evans, a lot of people could simply care less about him and have a difficult time staying awake during his fights. Rashad does not have an exciting, crowd pleasing style. Leben does.
Mike: I just think people like to say that they wont buy the event when its this far away. I have said that a few times about a couple different events, but the week of the event, I start getting hype and then the Countdown show pumps me up even more, and come the saturday morning of the event, as soon as i wake up i roll over and end up ordering the event. So…..regardless of what most people on this site say and what the card is, most of us end up purchasing every pay per view anyway.
I purchased Bisping vs. Rashad at UFC 78, which means I will pretty much order any event that the UFC is selling.
Definitely wouldn’t want to cough up PPV $$, but no complaints if it’s on Spike for free.
No offense TonyDrip, this is generalization - but I am just surprised at how many “devote fans” that post here every single day would not pay for a PPV. A sport that takes place about once a month, and people are on the computer talking about it everyday. Then the event comes and they charge money for it, and some “devote fans” don’t order it.
Is it reall that difficult to have 3 friends come over, and everyone pays $10? Of course, your frinds may not like the UFC, but just about anyone that I had watch it that hadn’t already, loves it as well.
could care less who they add, it’s a 5/10 right now but would bump up 2 notches if I didn’t have to spend 50 bucks to watch it. Bisping beats Leben and the Irvin/evans matchup is interesting, good for irvin, two paydays in 3 months
Andy Wang/Melvin Gulliard for a main event!!!! Only the best should headline!! LoL, me funny!
Go Teabag!!!!
Leben/ Bisping is alright, but Quarry/ Bisping would be better. You know Sandman is ready, he only fought for 8 seconds, lol!!! OR, they should cancel Thiago Silva in May, and bump him to June vs. Evans…original matchup in May, before they put Evans vs Chuck. Arlovski has to come back and fight Nog…
bisping vs leben would be a perfect main event for a free broadcast - just gonna have to sit through all the advertisments
good for who? english fans, and where’s the event? oh yeah, England. If I was a fighter in the UFC, I would love to see the world, but seriously, who wants to have to adjust to time changes? Isn’t the fact that you could get your ass kicked enough stress?
wtf?
Ha. Hope you’re not serious.
This wasn’t supposed to end up here…Nevermind.
man if they let Irvin fight Rashad…thats giving Irvin a great oppurtunity…what if he were to KO Rashad? That would put his name in the media for sure!
I’d be interested to see them sign Belfort v. Evans
Spike TV???? good election, this is a very, very solid card for Free because whithout chuck this PPV is going to be similar UFC 78 Validation.
Oops didn’t see Irvin.
You know Leben will come to fight. I think Leben/Bisping would be a war.
If this card is free on SpikeTV i’m not gonna complain at all, but if its not i ain’t payin for this UFC. I hope James Irvin and Chris Leben smash tho, If Irvin wins this puts him in a good spot to set up a fight with him and Wanderlei Silva, that would be a war right there.
I agree… I won’t complain about Leben/Bisping as the main event, but I won’t pay $44.95 to see it, either. If it’s free on Spike, then cool. If not… I’ll wait and pay $10 at Best Buy when they release the DVD.
and already know who won each and every fight…
cant complain if the ufc has one bad main event…injuries happen in MMA so what can ya do…bisbing/leben would be a slugfest!
screw it put GSP/Fitch up there…GSP aint hurt and could def fight in 2 months
FREE on spike tv would be awesome. because im certainly NOT going to pay for PPV that headlines bisping and evans ever again
Rich Clementi is replacing Terry Etim on UFC 84 according to ufc.com…is that possible, he just fought on UFC 83???
Chuck vs Shogun in an injury fight… it could revolutionize MMA like the YAMMA pit.
better be free on spike cuz I felt robbed due to bad fights by Kalib and Lutter. J.Irvin vs Rashad main event doesn’t seem credible enough to air on ppv, im pretty sure it’ll be free.
Both fights would be exciting but I have no intention of paying for the PPV. I hope it’s on Spike.
lets see houston VS evans
Free is great, Hopefully its a good night of fights. Leben vs. Bisping would be great. When Bisping wins, he can fight Franklin or Nate the Great, Help add some depth to the Middleweight Division. Almeida all the way!!1
Bisbing wouldn’t win
Bisping is going to get KO’d in the 2nd round.
After Leben loses a controversial decison to Bisping in London, perhaps his bar room brawl style will find him in the WEC lol.
And Yes Bisping has zero chances of losing a decision in England. Leben’s only hope is KO
Lucky for Leben than, he is a GREAT chance at KO’ing Bisping. But you are right, he can not win a decision over there. At least Leben doesn’t have to worry about getting KO’d though, and he is somehow able to maintain his own KO power even toward the end of the 3rd round of a slugfest.
Leben who couldn’t beat STARNES will get took apart by Bisping.
leben won that fight. even starnes said it…
Starnes said he lost that fight. Just goes to show you though, you can never leave it in the judges hands.
Bisping hasn’t impressed me in awhile. When’s the last time he really delivered in a fight? And don’t say against McCarthy. Sure, Bisping was in shape, but McCarthy didn’t look ready to fight at all. He had to rely on shit-talk and making retarded faces before he slumped to the ground. The fight sucked and in no way showed me some “New & Improved” Bisping. You won a fluff-fight, so what?
Before that, a very terrible showing in a terrible fight on both sides: Evans at UFC 78. What a snooze-fest. Then there was the Matt Hamill fight and we all know how that turned out. England loved you that night, Count.
The last time Michael Bisping impressed me was Elvis Sinosic. He showed a ton of heart and fought his way out of some tough situations. That was April of 2007. Four fights ago…
Then we have LEBEN. Who has looked very impressive of late.
There was his recent TKO in the 1st round of Sakara. And before that he had the KO over Terry Martin.
Besides losing by the judges to Starnes, LEBEN has only been caught in one Choke by MacDonald and of course his loss to Anderson Silva, which only makes Leben’s stock go up in my book just for the fact that he fought the guy.
LEBEN TAKES OUT BISPING on his feet. KNOCK OUT.
Wang/Starnes!! Im telling you guys, that way we can figure out who the biggest panzy in the UFC is!!!
ufc 85
dana the ‘bully’ white vs. kalib ‘running man’ starnes
i really don’t think that Irvin has a very good chance against rashad. if i remember correctly Irvin got taken down pretty easily by stephan bonnar and rashad’s wrestling is way better than stephans.
its a one punch ko or lose for irvin. plus he’s just not consistent enough. freak injuries and weird stoppages…
where is all this love for irvin coming from all of sudden?? it wasn’t there before he fought houston, thats for sure. rashad would beat irvin easly. it’s a bad match up for him. terry martin took him down and controlled him easy before getting hit with a flying knee. bonnar made short work of him as well. rashad is a better wrestler than martin and beat bonnar. i would rather see rashad/bonnar rematch than irvin. i just don’t think the sandman is really that good, definatly not for a co-main event!!!!!
sounds like another ufn to me.
Although Im disapointed about the loss of Chuck, this is still a really strong card, Irvin Vs Evans is a good match up, but what would make this a great card (and I suppose its a posibility) Hughes Vs Henderson, Although I presume Hughes is holding out for a fight with serra.
I don’t know where you’re getting your information but I like it! Nice work, feel like I’m getting some UFC inside info.
“If all this pans out — and there is still one fight to be announced — fans would have little to complain about.”
Except the fans who paid for tickets already..
leban cripples the brit roun 2
Irvan pulls desprite ko round 3
Anyone know what has happened to the Neil Wain Vs Antoni Hardonk which was supposed to take place on the 85 fight card?
I’m a Brit and even I know bisping vs leben is not worth the 320 English pounds I have paid
thats about $600 dollars come on ufc give us franklin or Mir or but pack the ortiz fight and
rematch him with Evans. Come on sort it out.
ill be selling my ticket unless they put Bisping + another big fight in there! Im so angry!
Florian v Huerta would be crazy if they could bring it forward a few months!
Florian v Huerta would be crazy if they could bring it forward a few months.
damn maybe the ufc will actually make the best of a bad situation.i hope the new fights bisping/leben and sandman/evans are on the main card cos a couple of times lately the ufc been savin 1 good fight on the undercard for ufc on demand. need to cut that out and give us the best fights!
bisping via tko
don’t know about the other fight but rashads pretty boring to watch so go with sandman upset via knockout
so is shogun vs chuck fight happening at ufc 87 or what?
Paid £200 for a ticket and i feel like i’ve been robbed.
Mertyl - Have ring side tickets for me and the wife. Totally gutted too. Cost about £650 incl rip off Ticketmastercharges. NB - Im not minted it was a treat. Also I live in Lancashire so have to get down there and stay over. Youll spot me in O2 - Ill be the one with a very f@*@*ng long face.
Hopefully you manage to pull one of the ring girls which should go some way to compensating.
Billy Boy - That will be the only way to save this event, fair enough there are some decent fights lined up but I was expecting Liddell vs Shogun, fair enough Shogun drops out, but then Liddell?! I can’t see there being a decent main event as most other good fighters are booked in other events before or after. I won’t be going to the next UFC event in England at this rate. Luckily I live near the o2 so it’s not a long trip like yours!
lol lets see another flying knee
lol evans is gonna be crapping his pants everytime he goes for a take down. ha i still think he’s gonna win, but who can forget that flying knee!
sorry didn’t mean to post twice
look at the card for 84 compaired to this 1!!! payed good money to see chuck hammer rashard!!! a silva v okami would more than make up for it. bisping v leben on the card aswell.
What about the line up for 86 aswell, I’m very disapointed in the UFC for not delivering on this event. I bought my ticket to see Chuck batter Evans. But now I wont see that and the other fights so far are not worth my money. Bisbing ain’t gonna be fighting as he has only just got back home and Tito is still to fight so that aint gonna happen either. There are plenty of big names ot there, Dana sort it out and get them to London…
I was one of these guys who was hoping for a great fight card, when i heard liddle and lesnar were going to be fighting. When lesnar never got signed to the card i was upset, then liddle got hurt but to be fair nothing anyome could have done. and i posted comments saying that it was going to be a crap event with nobody’s.
But iam eating my words there are some really exiting fights and big name fighter i feel a few wars in ufc85
ufc you have renewed my faith any time you come to england hopefully with liddle next time i will be there.
i have paid £400 for my trip from Newcastle
so excited if any want wants to comment on any of the fights will be glad been looking for a fan to talk to, girlfriend is getting bored of me going on now lol