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Chuck Liddell Pulls Out of UFC 85 Versus Rashad Evans

by Stan Leung
Mixed Martial Arts Betting and MMA odds
April 22, 2008

The main event at UFC 85 between Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell (21-5) and Rashad “Sugar” Evans (11-0-1) has been called off due to an injury Liddell sustained during training for his light heavyweight fight that was scheduled for June 7 in London, England.

Chuck Liddell pulled himself off the fight card with a brutal torn hamstring that might keep him from fighting for a long time as hamstring injures take a long time to heal. After a great win over Wanderlei Silva Chuck was looking to get back into the title picture but now that wil have to be put on hold. The UFC light heavyweight division is chalk full of top contenders like Keith Jardine, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Shogun, Lyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz and current UFC lightweight champion Quinton Jackson.

According to UFC President Dana White, Liddell still wanted to compete:

Being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight, which is the reason why everyone in the world loves him, but I wouldn’t let anyone fight with his leg looking that way. Let him heal and come back and fight when he is 100 percent.

UFC match maker Joel Silva will have to scramble to fight a replacement for Evans as he needs to fight a top quality light heavyweight contender. Evans is undefeated with impressive wins over Hector Ramirez, Brad Imes, Sam Hoger, Stephan Bonnar, Jason Lambert, Sean Salmon, Michael Bisping and went to a draw against former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.

Now that Liddell is out he is now rumored to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua since he had to pull out of a recent UFC fight with an injury as well. If this fight goes through it will be a chance to redeem himself and avenge his Chute Boxe partner’s loss to Liddell at UFC 79: Nemesis last December 29th

The two were suppose to fight but Shogun had to pull out due to injury and Evans replaces Shogun but now Liddell has come down with injury.

Who will fight Evans now?

So far the unconfirmed line for UFC 85 includes:

Lightweight bout:  Rashad Evans vs. TBA
Heavyweight bout:  Fabricio Werdum vs.  Brandon Vera
Middleweight bout:  Martin Kampmann vs.  Jorge Rivera
Welterweight bout:  Mike Swick vs.  Marcus Davis
Middleweight bout:  Nathan Marquardt vs.  Thales Leites

Preliminary Card
Lightweight bout:  Matt Wiman vs.  Thiago Tavares
Light Heavyweight bout:  Jason Lambert vs.  Luis Cane
Welterweight bout:  Roan Carneiro vs. TBD
Welterweight bout:  Jess Liaudin vs.  Paul Taylor