Liddell injured, out for UFC 85

[The Chef]

Per mmaweekly.com they added Rashad Evans vs James Irvin as well as Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben. Kinda surprising that Bisping was added since he just fought 4 days ago, so he basically will have fought on April 19th and then on June 7th, not even a full 2 months apart. It shouldnt be much work for Bisping though since he is naturally at this weight anyways, obviously the UFC is probably going to pay him a bonus of some sort banking on him saving the card since its in London again.

EDIT- On a side note, there is no way they move the Tito fight, this is his last fight and rumor is he isnt coming back, the last time something like this happened, Arlovski was put on the undercard and never shown.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pimping219

Per mmaweekly.com they added Rashad Evans vs James Irvin as well as Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben. Kinda surprising that Bisping was added since he just fought 4 days ago, so he basically will have fought on April 19th and then on June 7th, not even a full 2 months apart. It shouldnt be much work for Bisping though since he is naturally at this weight anyways, obviously the UFC is probably going to pay him a bonus of some sort banking on him saving the card since its in London again. EDIT- On a side note, there is no way they move the Tito fight, this is his last fight and rumor is he isnt coming back, the last time something like this happened, Arlovski was put on the undercard and never shown.

That somewhat saves the card, but i'm hardly hyped for that show now...

For Tito, I thought I read he at least wants to talk around and see what he can get elsewhere. Plus he and Dana don't quite get along anymore, so if Tito can get enough cash elsewhere he'll probably book it. Otherwise it wouldn't surprise me to see him back in the UFC because money talks.

[cbgatorade0202]

Well damn that sucks, but hey maybe with the card not having Liddell they will put this on free tv on Spike b/c it is two weeks after UFC 84.

[The Chef]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

That somewhat saves the card, but i'm hardly hyped for that show now... For Tito, I thought I read he at least wants to talk around and see what he can get elsewhere. Plus he and Dana don't quite get along anymore, so if Tito can get enough cash elsewhere he'll probably book it. Otherwise it wouldn't surprise me to see him back in the UFC because money talks.

True to an extent but both Tito and especially Jenna have gone around and smashed Dana every chance they get, for further evidence check out Jenna Jamesons myspace page, she has a blog on there about him that I read awhile back and to say it wasnt flattering would be an understatement. Keeping that in mind, Dana has a huge ego and probably feels he doesnt need Tito to keep making money so I wouldnt be shocked if he didnt even give a real attempt to sign him but only one that makes it look like he tried and put Tito in the spot to look like the bad guy. Technically Tito hasnt turned in a solid fight in over a year, he had 2 straight fights with Shamrock and those were terrible, then he had a real lackluster performance against Rashad and then took time off to do the Celebrity Apprentice so he hasnt done much anyways, so Im sure Dana wont miss him.

EDIT- Apparently mmaweekly.com jumped the gun a bit and the Bisping vs Leben fight is only a rumor at this point and neither fighter has actually signed for that fight, so as of right now its not official as I had previously thought.

[sven]

Tito has to keep talkling 24/7 to keep himself relevant because if he had to rely on his fighting people would have been forgotten long ago. The sooner he is gone the better.

I'm sure once he's out of the UFC he'll fight Ken Shamrock 4 or 5 more times to pad his record even more.

[The Chef]

Quote: Originally Posted by sven

Tito has to keep talkling 24/7 to keep himself relevant because if he had to rely on his fighting people would have been forgotten long ago. The sooner he is gone the better. I'm sure once he's out of the UFC he'll fight Ken Shamrock 4 or 5 more times to pad his record even more.

I seriously doubt that, Tito is still one of the bigger names in MMA, he hasnt fought much recently due to a TV appearance but I dont think he needs to talk to keep his name relevant and still has many fans throughout the MMA world.

[sven]

Yeah it was his relevance in MMA that I was refering to. If he didnt talk all kinds of **** nobody would care about him because he hasnt done jack **** in a long time.

Basically Tito caters to the lowest common denominator.

[The Chef]

Quote: Originally Posted by sven

Yeah it was his relevance in MMA that I was refering to. If he didnt talk all kinds of **** nobody would care about him because he hasnt done jack **** in a long time. Basically Tito caters to the lowest common denominator.

Thats where we disagree, Tito has been around long enough that people will still buy his fights because of name recognition. Lets face it, we are somewhat hard core MMA fans, but half those people at the actual fights are there becuase they recognize a few fighters and thats it, Chuck, Randy, Tito, Forrest etc, it will change over time though Im sure. Now you and I arent that interested in him anymore because, like you said, he hasnt done anything in awhile, but the casual or average fan of the UFC will be and for that reason alone he doesnt need to do it to get attention or to sell a PPV.

[The Chef]

Another fight added to the card, which was a huge surprise, and the Leben/Bisping fight is now official. Here is the official card for UFC 85 per mmaweekly.com......

Main Event Card
Matt Hughes vs Thiago Alves
Fabricio Werdum vs Brandon Vera
Nate Marquardt vs Thales Leites
Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben
Rashad Evans vs James Irvin
Marcus Davis vs Mike Swick
Martin Kampmann vs Jorge Rivera

Undercard
Ryo Chonan vs Roan Carneiro
Thiago Tavares vs Matt Wiman
Luis Arthur Cane vs Jason Lambert
Jess Liaudin vs Paul Taylor
Neil Wain vs Antonio Hardonk

Not a bad card really, Hughes comes back, and Bisping vs Leben should be entertaining. Not amped much for Werdum vs Vera but they did everything they could to save this card. I would imagine that the winner of Hughes vs Alves will then fight Sera, and the winner of that fight will fight the winner of the GSP vs Fitch. Personally Im not going to buy this, it will be on in the middle of the day and its not a good enough card to spend the 55.00 for it but I will figure out a way to watch it hopefully.

EDIT- To those that was hoping that it would be free on Spike, Dana squashed that today and said it will not be on Spike but on PPV in the USA. Sucks because I could see it with Chuck fighting but not Hughes/Alves as the main event.

[Heelfan71]

that is a pretty good card now.