Here's where all news for UFC 85 will be posted. The fight card will be updated as news is released. Questions, comments.. fire away. <div align="center"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%">UFC 85: Huges vs Alves</span> </div> Main Card Bouts: 170 lbs: Matt Hughes (42-6) vs. Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves (14-3) 185 lbs: Michael "The Count" Bisping (15-1) vs Jason 'Dooms' Day (17-5) 265 lbs: Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum (10-3-1) vs. Brandon "The Truth" Vera (8-1) 185 lbs: Nate "The Great" Marquardt (29-7-1) vs. Thales Leites (10-1) 170 lbs: Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis (19-4) vs. Mike "Quick" Swick (11-2) Preliminary Bouts: 185 lbs: Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann (12-1) vs. Jorge "El Conquistador" Rivera (15-6) 170 lbs: Ryo ""Piranha" Chonan (14-8) vs. Roan "Jucao" Carneiro (12-6) 155 lbs: Thiago Tavares (17-1) vs. "Handsome" Matt Wiman (9-3) 205 lbs: Luis "Banha" Arthur Cane (8-1) vs. Jason "The Punisher" Lambert (23-7) 170 lbs: Jess "Joker" Liaudin (12-9) vs. Paul Taylor (8-3-1)* 265 lbs: Eddie Sanchez (8-1) vs. Antoni Hardonk (6-4)
The main event isn't especially compelling, but the card is solid. I'm very curious to see Kampmann get back into the octagon and Vera/Werdum will be extremely interesting.
I'm interested in all 5 main event fights. Swick vs Davis should be lights out and Nate vs Leites will be interesting too. Liddell vs Evans.. not a bad back up fight after Shogun had to drop out. Evans is young and explosive when he wants to be, is Chuck still able to stuff great wrestlers? Seems like Wiman is being served up on a platter..
updated the card, I'm certain there will be many more updates as the big question right now is "who's the main event?!"
I found this added to MMAWeekly's rumored UFC 85 card. I haven't read anything about it yet so I'll just post it here for now Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben as the main event. If this is true, all UK fans will be happy with this card. It'd make for a great fight too!
I still like Marquardt vs Leites, Vera vs Werdum, Swick vs Marcus Davis. The return of Kampmann will be interesting somewhat too. If they add Bisping vs Leben to the card and show at least 6 fights.. well then it's a solid if unspectacular card.. and sometimes those cards turn out to be really good.
The Fight Network is reporting that this will no longer be a PPV, but a 3-hr SpikeTV live presentation.
I read the same at fiveouncesofpain.com, but then they were contacted by another site with a source at Spike.. rumor isn't true.
Note the message the bottom <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>PPV Nixed: UFC 85 on SpikeTV *UPDATE: Back to PPV!* Big ups to BloodyElbow. I scanned UFC.com this morning and missed this little blurb on their calendar: United States: Live on Spike TV on the east coast, tape delayed for the west coast. A dangerously mediocre card just got a little tastier with the big “FREE” sticker that seems to have been applied. The broadcast will begin live at 3PM EST, like all cards from the Merry Ol’. The fight card took a huge hit when Chuck Liddell was removed from his scheduled fight against Rashad Evans due to a hamstring injury (evidenced by a “Give It Away” type closeup of his inner thigh). Whether the cancellation of the original main event caused the move to free TV is unknown. The official Fight Card still shows the Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera fight as the headliner. The rumored bout between native English fighter Michael Bisping and Team Quest product Chris Leben is yet to be announced, but word is Leben is already signed to fight on the card. Assuming James Irvin has had all shards of Houston Alexander’s chin successfully removed from his right hand, he’s as good as booked to step in for Liddell. Irvin vs. Evans is supposedly already confirmed, but the website has yet to reflect the change. Check out more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesofPain.com! *UPDATE* A very nice man named Caleb Newby of NOKAUT.com has word directly from SpikeTV that the broadcast was never slated to be free. The reference made by the post above was an error on UFC.com that was corrected earlier today. I apologize for the gratuitous false hope. UFC 85’s status may still change, but for now it’s definitely a PPV event.</div>
un-freaking-believable!!! this even should be called UFC 85 - jinxed!! <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>IRVIN OUT, UFC 85 MERRY-GO-ROUND CONTINUES The Ultimate Fighting Championship may set a record, albeit one that isn’t so enviable. That being a record for the most opponent changes ever to a single bout. The promotion announced late Tuesday afternoon that James Irvin has suffered a broken foot and has had to withdraw from a bout against Greg Jackson-trained fighter Rashad Evans. Evans will now face Luiz Cane, who was previously scheduled to fight Jason Lambert at the same event. The removal of Irvin from the bout was the latest in the continuing saga to keep this bout on the UFC 85 fight card on June 7 in London. The bout as originally scheduled was set to feature former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell against Pride 2005 Grand Prix champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event. The Brazilian was subsequently forced to pull out of the bout due to a knee injury. Evans then quickly stepped up to face Liddell, the bout still expected to headline the fight card at the O2 Arena. Shortly thereafter, Liddell suffered a torn right hamstring muscle, removing him from the bout. He is still unsure when he will be able to return to the ring, but has recently said that he is hoping for a return sometime this fall. Irvin then stepped in to face Evans. At that point, the bout was relegated to a supporting role, while a new main event bout between former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and American Top Team fighter Thiago Alves was signed. Which brings us back around to Evans vs. Cane, of course with the stipulation that the bout can hold together until June 7. At the time of publication, there was no announcement regarding a new opponent for Jason Lambert, or if his bout would even remain on the UFC 85 fight card.</div> good golly what a mess.. Irvin seriously needs to change his training methods or camps or something.. he's always getting hurt in training.
even the UFC has realised this bout was jinxed!!! <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Within hours of announcing that Luis Cane would step in for an injured James Irvin to face Rashad Evans at UFC 85 on June 7 in London, the Ultimate Fighting Championship issued another statement, finalizing the fight card and scrapping the Evans bout altogether. Following more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel, the fight card for UFC 85, according to the promoter, is final with 11-bouts. With the Evans bout being dropped from the card, the UFC moved up the middleweight bout between No.5 ranked middleweight Nathan Marquardt and opponent Thales Leites to the pay-per-view portion of the event. Prior to announcing the finalized UFC 85 fight card, the promotion had issued a statement on its website saying that Cane would be pulled from his fight with Jason Lambert to face Evans. The Cane vs. Lambert bout has since been restored to the preliminary portion of the card.</div> hmmm wonder if rashad will be added to UFC 87 in Minny???
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds @ Apr 25 2008, 09:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Fight Network is reporting that this will no longer be a PPV, but a 3-hr SpikeTV live presentation.</div> Good call. now I'll watch it. haha
heeeeeeeeeey guess what!!! yup, another change to the card.. and there's another rumored change I'm waiting to see if it's official too.. cripes this card is jinxed. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Another UFC 85 change: Eddie Sanchez replaces Neil Wain by MMAjunkie.com Staff on May 28, 2008 at 12:42 pm ET The ever-changing UFC 85 fight card has been tagged with another late change: Eddie Sanchez (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will step in to replace Neil Wain (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a UFC 85 preliminary bout with Antoni Hardonk (6-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC). The organization updated the event's fight card earlier today. A broken nose has sidelined Wain, an undefeated English fighter who recently signed a four-fight deal with the UFC. UFC 85 takes place June 7 at the O2 Arena in London, England. After injuries to multiple former headliners for the pay-per-view event, the UFC ultimately settled on a main event of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves. Sanchez last competed at UFC 79 and scored a third-round TKO of Soa Palelei. Other than a loss to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 67, he's perfect in professional competition. Other knockout victories have come over Mario Neto (UFC 63) and Colin Robinson (UFC 72). In fact, of his eight career victories, six have come via knockout and two via submission. Hardonk, meanwhile, made his octagon debut at UFC 65 and scored a first-round knockout of Sherman Pendergarst. After losses to Justin McCully and Frank Mir, he got back in the win column with a 17-second TKO of Robinson at UFC 80 in January.</div> this one's not biggie as it's the first fight on the card. Chances are unless something spectacular happens, we won't see this one.
<u>Results:</u> Thiago Alves d. Matt Hughes (R2, TKO) Michael Bisping d. Jason Day (R1, TKO) Mike Swick d. Marcus Davis (R3, UD) Thales Leites d. Nate Marquardt (R3, SD) Fabricio Werdum d. Brandon Vera (R1, TKO) Martin Kampmann d. Jorge Rivera (R1, Guillotine) Matt Wiman d. Thiago Tavares (R2, KO) Kevin Burns d. Roan Carneiro (R2, Triangle) Luis Cane d. Jason Lambert (R1, TKO) Paul Taylor d. Jess Liaudin (R3, SD) Antoni Hardonk d. Eddie Sanchez (R2, TKO)
I thought this might be a tricky PPV to call and boy was that ever the case. The first fight of the night, Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum, was extremely frustrating for me to watch. Vera has long been one of my favourites in the UFC and I thought seeing him lose to Tim Sylvia was the last time I'd have to see him under-perform. Both of the fighters came into the bout carrying some twenty pounds of extra weight. I can't understand how you can train full time and still look doughy. I guess that is the risk with the heavyweight division--you have guys shredding themselves to get down to the appropriate weight in every other class, but in heavyweight, there is less motivation to be cut up. I'm not saying they were out of shape, but both guys could've been trimmer. I think if Vera had've been a little lighter on his feet he might've been able to avoid Werdum's deliberate take-downs. The stoppage was a poor one, no doubt, but I blame the fans. They ROASTED Dan Mirgliotta (sp?) after he let James Thompson land 71 consecutive blows to the side of Kimbo Slice's head last Saturday but then stopped the fight in the next round when Slice landed three or four straight shots on Thompson. Now we have Werdum in full mount landing maybe eight to ten solid shots on Vera at the very end of the first round and he jumps in to make the stop. I dare say that had the fans not lashed out at him so badly for the last non-stoppage, he might've let this one go longer. He's only human. For sure Vera was in a bad spot but there is a difference between getting hurt and being in danger of getting hurt. Vera wasn't hurt and the round was going to end. It's Vera's fault for letting himself get mounted by a BJJ expert, but damn, that was a really disappointing stoppage. Vera should seriously consider going down to Light Heavyweight now, which is something he should've done even before the Tim Sylvia fight. I don't want to incite the debacle that was Saturday Night Fights too much, but the split decision Thales Leites managed over Nate Marquardt was also highly questionable. Marquardt was penalized twice during the fight which led me to believe there would be two drawn rounds 18-18. With Marquardt clearly winning the unpenalized round, the fight should've ended at 28-27 Marquardt. I don't know why it didn't. Leites was good at being able to avoid Marquardt's heavy hands, for the most part, and the scrambles didn't amount to much, but this judges decision really left me scratching my head. I think the UFC has no choice when it comes to the judges they get stateside but they must be involved with who they bring to the UK, because we don't seem to see judges from the UK in the UFC. There are judges out there like Cecil Peoples that have their own wild criteria for a fight and I don't think anybody can decipher what they are looking for. I don't want the fights to be reduced to a straightforward points-per-take-down and thrown/landed percentages, that would be awful, but somebody has to come out with a unified judging criteria because we've seen some really ludicrous judging in the last few years. How one judge can score a fight 30-27 for one fighter and another judge watching the same fight can judge it 27-30, for example, is beyond me. And it's not unheard of. This certainly derails Marquardt's march back towards Anderson Silva, but what it does for Leites I don't know. Mike Swick and Marcus Davis went to war but top welterweights must not feel threatened by these guys anymore. Swick is now 2-0 at 170-lbs but the explosiveness he showed earlier in his career seems to have mellowed into a more deliberate style. Davis, on the other hand, is what he has always been--fantastic against moderate opponents, underwhelming against good ones. Both of these guys still have a lot to prove before they will be ranked.
