CHUCK LIDDELL says he will knock out Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua when the two collide at UFC 85 in June.

The Iceman is set to face ex-Pride superstar Rua at London’s O2 Arena and claims a victory will put him back in title contention.

Liddell said: “I’m looking forward to a great fight. He’s a well-rounded fighter and it should be fun.

“But I think that after I have this fight - and WHEN I win this fight - I deserve a title shot. "

Both fighters are known for their striking ability, with Liddell’s stree t- fighting background set to match up well against Rua, who trained with the infamous Chutebox academy.

Liddell added: “It’s going to end up striking . We both strike a lot but his takedowns don’t impress me.

“With the ones I’ve seen from him in the past, I don’t think he’s got much chance of taking me down.

“But it’s going to be great. I’m going to come out swinging and throwing everything and I plan on knocking him out.”

Brazilian Muay Thai expert Shogun lost his debut UFC clash against Forrest Griffin in September after the American defeated him with a rear naked choke.

A host of ex-Pride fighters have struggled to make the transition from the ring to the cage and Liddell says fighting in the Octagon proves there is a step up in class.

The Iceman said: “ The reason some of the Pride guys aren’t performing well has to do with the fighters themselves and who they’re fighting with.

“There are a lot of good fighters in the UFC and the Pride guys have been used to just fighting with each other. Some of them are overrated.

“I saw a poll where Rameau Sokoudjou came third in the rankings and he’d been knocked out a year before that by a guy that fights out of my gym.

“The guy from my gym i s a tough fighter but isn’t even rated and has never fought in Pride or the UFC .

"But he knocked Sokoudjou out a little over a year ago.”

I think they'll just give Liddell another shot because that's what everyone wants to see, whether he's ready or not.

Doesn't anyone here remember that it will be Rampage and Griffin doing the upcoming Ultimate Fighter season?

Hint Hint?

Damn. I heard that Brock was fighting someone whilst in the UK aswell. Thats out the window now.

Ah well, atleast if I get some tickets, I can go see Chucky do his stuff.

Rappy, you gonna buy some tickets?

Last time it was £250 for Octogon-side! £25 for right at the back! I'll watch it on TV me thinks!

Scheduled to make his return to the Octagon this June against Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 in London, light heavyweight star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has instead been forced to withdraw from the bout due to a ruptured ACL in his left knee, the same injury he had surgery on to repair last October after his UFC 76 fight with Forrest Griffin.

Surgery on the injured knee will be scheduled shortly, and there is no word on when Rua will be cleared to return to the Octagon.

Liddell’s opponent for UFC 85, which will be held at London’s O2 Arena on June 7th, will be announced shortly. As for Rua, he promises to be back and better than ever as soon as possible.

Rua has been forced to back out of the fight.

NOOOOO!!!!!

Damn, my incentives to get some tickets for this event are slowly evaporating away.

Yeah I would imagine those 2 will meet at the end of the run of Ultimate Fighter.

Liddell is the man, but it's funny how now he's fighting almost every other UFC event now. When he was the champ we got to see him once, maybe twice a year. He wants that belt back bad, but I don't think he can get past Rampage. I hope Rua is in better shape then when he fought Forest because that was just out and out embarassing.

That's not chuck's doing.. that's because not only is he buddy buddy with Dana White, but it's mostly because Chuck is a money maker.. every event chuck is in does really well with tickets and ppv. Now that couture is gone, chuck is the main money make for the UFC, they want to get him in as many events as possible.. when chuck is on top the ufc makes more money.

CHUCK LIDDELL INJURED; FORCED TO WITHDRAW FROM UFC® 85

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organisation announced today that Chuck Liddell has been forced to withdraw from the UFC 85 event. Liddell tore his hamstring last week while training for his June 7 bout with undefeated light heavyweight Rashad Evans.

"Unfortunately, Chuck Liddell tore his right hamstring during training last week, and being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight, which is the reason why everyone in the world loves him," said Dana White, UFC President. "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."

Full Story - UFC.com

so i'm guessing digipoi is a noob to UFC??

being that you thought the last UFC sucked.. which it clearly did not and was the biggest UFC event ever. And you have no idea who Rashad Evans is? I would suggest watching alot more UFC or MMA..lol

A noob to UFC would not have UFC 1 ~ 20 on VHS tapes hence the emoticon.

In case I need to spell it our further, I just don't care for Rashad.

The last UFC was not the biggest event ever just because it was the first time held in Canada with a Canadian whooping on an American with just so happening, you! are from Canada. The undercard sucked and was predictable. noob, lol. You guys are young.

A noob to UFC would not have UFC 1 ~ 20 on VHS tapes hence the emoticon.

In case I need to spell it our further, I just don't care for Rashad.

The last UFC was not the biggest event ever just because it was the first time held in Canada with a Canadian whooping on an American with just so happening, you! are from Canada. The undercard sucked and was predictable. noob, lol. You guys are young.

get your facts together jackass, ufc 83 WAS the biggest UFC event ever. I never claimed it was the best because i'm from canada, i simply said it was the biggest event in ufc history, which it was. Just because you have 20 ufc VHS you think that makes you somehow better? No, it just makes you stupid because the dvd's have been out for quite some time.
Also, i dont really care for Rashad either, but you acted as if you've never heard of him... but now that i know you own the first 20 UFC on VH ****ing S, i'll never question your knowledge again tough guy.

It completely destroyed the boxing fight that happened that night too (and was good cause the old man lost, best moment ever was when roy jones kicked his ass).

ust hours after the organization announced a UFC 85 main event of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves, the UFC also confirmed a main-card bout between Chris Leben (18-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Michael Bisping (15-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC).

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) mentioned the possibility of the bout on Wednesday, and on Friday evening, the UFC made it official.

UFC 85, which also features a bout between former headliner Rashad Evans and James Irvin (a replacement for injured Chuck Liddell), takes place at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Bisping agreed to the bout less than a week after his UFC 83 main-card victory over Charles McCarthy. Bisping, the light heavyweight winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 3," made his middleweight debut with a first-round TKO at the event. McCarthy announced his retirement just days after the fight.

Bisping will now take on hard-hitting Leben, a product of the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" who most recently TKO'd Alessio Sakara at UFC 82 in March. The 27-year-old, who began his UFC career with five straight victories, will now go for his third straight win after back-to-back losses to Jason MacDonald and Kalib Starnes.

With this week's flurry of UFC 85 transactions, a solid middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites has now officially been relegated to the un-televised preliminary card.

UFC 85 is currently slated to air on pay per view.

The latest card now includes:

MAIN CARD (TELEVISED)

* Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes
* Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
* Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick
* Rashad Evans vs. James Irvin
* Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum

PRELIMINARY CARD (NOT TELEVISED)

* Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera
* Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman
* Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt
* Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert
* Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
* Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor
* Antoni Hardonk vs. Neil Wain

Leben Out, Day In For Bisping at UFC 85
By Thomas Gerbasi

With legal issues preventing middleweight contender Chris Leben from being able to prepare sufficiently for a June 7th bout with Michael Bisping in London, England, Canada’s Jason ‘Dooms’ Day has stepped in to face ‘The Count’ in a featured bout on the UFC 85: Bedlam card at the O2 Arena.

"Obviously I was looking forward to the Leben fight but I guess it wasn't to be,” said Bisping. "You have to respect Jason Day for stepping in on even shorter notice than myself. I am looking forward to really putting on a great performance in London."

“I love this fight,” said Day. “Everybody’s been asking me who would I like to fight next, and I said Bisping, but who would have thought it would have come about so quickly. He’s a great fighter, an exciting fighter, tough as nails, and everybody wants that marquee fight where you get the guy that tests you and you slug it out for two or three rounds. I think he’s a pretty good test for me.”

Leben turned himself in to Clackamas County officials in Oregon last week in response to a probation violation on a 2005 DUI conviction. Leben was in the process of completing the terms of his probation when he moved from Oregon to Hawaii last year. Attempts to complete these terms in Hawaii were unsuccessful, leading to Leben’s decision to voluntarily turn himself in. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 35 days in jail. With time served, Leben will be released in late May, not leaving sufficient time to prepare for the Bisping bout.

Enter Lethbridge, Alberta’s Day (17-5), who made a spectacular debut in the Octagon in April as he stopped highly-touted Alan Belcher in the first round at UFC 83.

"Jason Day looked bloody dangerous in his fight
ad
with Belcher and I think this fight has exactly the same potential as the Leben fight to be a real war,” said Bisping.

Now looking to put another notch in his belt, the 29-year old Day – who also holds wins over UFC vets Jonathan Goulet, David Loiseau, and Ron Faircloth – will try to stall the title ambitions of UK superstar Bisping (16-1), whose middleweight debut win over Charles McCarthy on the same UFC 83 card has gotten fans buzzing.

“If you take a look at me and Bisping, we’re both well-rounded fighters, both very well-conditioned, and we both have a reputation for being tough and durable,” said Day. “So I think this has Fight of The Night written all over it, and maybe even Fight of The Year. I think it’s gonna be an awesome fight. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and it sounds like he’s not gonna take me lightly either.”

In the UFC 85 main event, welterweight legend Matt Hughes begins his run at an unprecedented third 170-pound title when he takes on Brazilian wrecking machine Thiago Alves. Tickets are on sale now.

Hours after the organization announced that Luiz Cane (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) would replace an injured James Irvin (14-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) and fight Rashad Evans (11-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) on June 7, the UFC announced that Evans has been pulled from the fight card all together.

Cane will now fight his originally scheduled opponent, Jason Lambert (23-7 MMA, 4-2 UFC), on the night's un-aired preliminary card.

UFC 85 has now been finalized with 11 bouts, and a preliminary middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt (26-7-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Thales Leites (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has been promoted to the televised main card of the pay-per-view-event.