UFC 88

[Bubbabyte]

Just announced HERE

Headline fight between Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans.

I wouldn't mind seeing it.. but i wonder what happened to shogun.

In other news.. I read today as well that UFC is planning a free Spike tv event for July 19th to go up against the Affliction: Banned event that is happening that same night... could be interesting, but affliction is looking to be quite an event.

[Rappy Veteran]

Thats a good main event and I agree I really want to see Affliction!

Edited June 16, 2008 by Rappy

[digipoi]

I hope Chuck punches Rashad in his mom.

j/k

[Zoom7000]

Yes, what did happen to Shogun?

+1 for Affliction here too!

[JohnMarsten]

Shogun is coming off his torn ACL injury for the second time, he said if everything went well he could be back as early as September, I guess they want to be safe this time and not push it like last time so it won't end his career.

As for the July 19th card to compete with the affliction card, right now they are asking Wanderlei Silva to take on Brandon Vera at LHW on Spike. The Dana White announcement is set for tomorrow, if the fight is on, he will say so then.

[Bubbabyte]

Wanderlei vs Vera would be awesome.. i like both, so i really can't pick a favorite but would be an interesting fight. But would that mean Wanderlei moving up in class or Vera moving down.. cause Vera had made it quite clear he wanted to stay as heavyweight, although in my opinion i think he would be better in a lower class.

As for the chuck vs evans thing... i mean Evans is so far unbeaten, however i find him dull and kind of a "play it safe" fighter... i think Dana matched them up as a stepping stone for chuck to get back up to a title shot, because moving from Wanderlei to Evans doesn't seem to me like a logical step up.

[JohnMarsten]

the Vera vs Wanderlei fight would be at 205 .. a win for Wand would put him into title contention and a win for Vera would give him a big splash into the LHW division.

Yeah I can't stand Evans either he's a LNP fighter end of story. I hope Chuck gives Evans a highlight reel KO that night.

Edited June 16, 2008 by IndoShindo

[Rappy Veteran]

Didn't Vera get beaten (if not dodgily) recently by Werdum? I suppose he's done at that weight.

[Bubbabyte]

Vera was getting beat.. but he did not get beaten, the fight was stopped WAAAAYY prematurely. Another strike on Dan Marigliatta's resume... I really think Vera could have beaten him, and i know i've said this in the ufc 85 thread but i lost a ton of respect for Werdum, because at the post press conference he said that Vera would have to work his way up the rankings to get a rematch, which i thought was horrible sportsmanship not to mention a sign that he really did fear Vera may have gotten him.

Anyway.. i really would love to see Vera at 205, i think he would be much more dominant in that division and a fight with Wanderlei would be great, as both fighters would have a whole lot to prove.

About Liddell vs. Evans... like Indo said, i really hope chuck makes a highlight reel out of him.

[JohnMarsten]

Looks like the Vera vs Wand fight is off.

The rumored UFC show on July 19 appears to have legs and is likely occur, but don't expect Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera to fight one another in the main event.

Both men were contacted about participating in the event, but talks, which were in the preliminary stages, have ceased and the proposed match has been scrapped for unknown reasons.

However, the UFC continues to scramble in order to put together a solid card and an official announcement on the proposed card is expected tomorrow.

As for Werdum, his comment about Vera going back through the rankings is fair because UFC promised him a title shot if he beat Gonzaga and he did and that never happened. So why should he give someone else what they want when he yet is to receive what he was told he would get. I know it's not really fair, but if you look at it through his eyes not like he got a fair shake either after the Gonzaga fight.

[digipoi]

Looks like the Vera vs Wand fight is off.

Damn. I'm late to the flow of comments but that would have been the cool.

[Rappy Veteran]

Oh well thats craptastic :(

[JohnMarsten]

Dana White has delayed his press conference till tomorrow (Wednesday). Don't know exactly what he will announce but it will probably have to do with NY and sanctioning MMA. As well as UFN 14 on July 19th, which will be headlined by Anderson Silva making his 205 debut vs James Irving on SpikeTV.

Edit:

Hermes Franca (18-6 MMA, 5-3 UFC) vs. Frankie Edgar (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) -- a fight originally scheduled for UFC 87 -- will also be added to the July 19 fight card.

I'll still be watching Affliction over this card, but I'll definitely be PVRing this event and watching it right after Affliction.

Edited June 18, 2008 by IndoShindo

[Bubbabyte]

Just to add to that July 19th Fight Night... Brandon Vera will be fighting as a light heavyweight against Reese Andy.. a newcomer from the IFL (7-1MMA record)... kinda sucks for Vera, i think he deserves a better fight, but i'm still excited to see both him and Silva at 205.

Regarding silva however.. i'm very dissapointed that they put him up against James Irvin, it looks to me as if they are playing it safe for silva at 205 right now until they can make money off of a bigger event, i mean if silva came into his first 205 fight and lost it would look horrible.. so they put him up against Irvin, get the win, set up a big event against Wanderlei or something. There was plenty of rumours in this last week that dana's big announcement was going to be Chuck Liddell vs Anderson Silva, but now that chuck has ufc 88, and silva has FN14, that's a no go, so who knows what will happen.

[Rappy Veteran]

Tonight!

[Dev Null Zen]

Damn, chuck looks pretty good. Not as flabby as he has been recently

[+shift. MVC]

All I can say is WOW...

[Bubbabyte]

All I can say is WOW...

amen to that..

what's funny is that Just before the KO, i was talking to my wife while watching it and i had JUST said, "the thing about evans is that i don't think he has the power to knock liddell out in one punch".. wow was i ever wrong, i've never seen chuck so defeated. It's a sad day for chuck fans. But i found Evans to be incredibly disrespectful after the fight.. sure he was excited, i don't even mind to small showboating on his part, but during the whole 5 minutes that chuck was down he never once went over to make sure everything was ok, and i thought that was just disrespectful.

[rajputwarrior]

props to evans, that was a nice knockout. He should be getting a title chance pretty soon now.

[Dev Null Zen]

Yeah, Evans is a douchebag. Absolutely no class. I don't see him lasting...

[Rappy Veteran]

Yeah, Evans is a douchebag. Absolutely no class. I don't see him lasting...

Yeah I hate people like that who show off but kudos to the dude knocking out Chuck is hard to do.

ATLANTA - With his stunning one-punch knockout victory over Chuck Liddell at this past Saturday's "UFC 88: Breakthrough" event, Rashad Evans has claimed top contender's status in the UFC and has been granted a title shot with current 205-pound champ Forrest Griffin.

UFC President Dana White confirmed in the post-event press conference that Evans will get the immediate title shot -- one that was all but promised to Liddell.

White wouldn't release a date for the upcoming championship tilt, but he made it very clear Evans had earned his shot.

"(UFC CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta), (UFC matchmaker) Joe (Silva) and I got together and thought yeah, he deserves the title shot," White said. "How could you say, 'No, he doesn't deserve the shot' after [the Liddell fight]?"

White said he had a date in mind but wouldn't share it until the organization has the opportunity to announce some other upcoming cards.

However, the organization's year-end Dec. 27 card in Las Vegas would seem a logical choice.

[Rappy Veteran]

[rajputwarrior]

you know what, screw chucky, he acted like this was going to be an easy fight for him going towards the title, and he got knocked out with a punch that he usually uses, he deserved it. Not every fighter is going to be a greats spsortmans, its not like rashad sat there and gloated why he was down. I don't think its that big of a deal that he didn't see how he was, just let the doctors figure it out and go see him after, which is what rashad did..

[Bubbabyte]

I don't think Chuck thought this would be an easy fight, i didn't get that impression at all. However, I did in the jardine fight, so i really didn't think chuck would take it lightly again. Maybe he did, but i didn't get that impression. I know not every fighter is gonna be a great sportsman, but in a situation like this i find it disrespectful. His showboating is one thing, Rashad has been known to do it time and time again, it's nothing new. But while chuck was down and out this guys was doing his little stupid dance thing all around the cage instead of finding out if he actually did any damage to someone.

[Rappy Veteran]

If it weren't for his stunning overhand right that sent Chuck Liddell to the canvas for one of the UFC's biggest main-event upsets, Rashad Evans would likely be fielding questions about two other topics.

Why exactly was he twisting his nipples during pre-fight introductions? And what was up the Bill Gates mugshot T-shirt Evans sported throughout this past weekend?

On today's edition of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), Evans said they were just inside jokes that originated at his home with Team Jackson.

During this past Saturday's UFC 88 event at Atlanta's Philips Arena, as Bruce Buffer bellowed Evans' bio and name during pre-fight introductions, cameras caught Evans licking his fingers and then tweaking his nipples. The strange move has fueled more than a few forum postings -- especially since teammate and current UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre did the same thing before his latest title defense over Jon Fitch.

"Georges St. Pierre was the first do it, and it's just sort of an inside joke," Evans said.

Evans said St. Pierre had heard it was supposed to bring good luck -- according to some ancient fighting myths, anyway. And if there's anything the New Mexico-based Team Jackson group knows, it's unity. Led by famed fight strategist and head trainer Greg Jackson, the team has created a sense of brotherhood among team members Evans, St. Pierre, Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt, Joey Villasenor and others.

"Georges said it was supposed to good luck or something, so I said, 'Cool, alright,'" Evans said, laughing.

As for the T-shirt, Evans said it was also an inside joke with the team.

"That shirt, it's [Gates'] mugshot," Evans said. "He was arrested in Albuquerque, N.M. He started off Microsoft in the basement of the Bank One Building. That's right next to the (Team Jackson) gym.

That's the only association right now, but the team is hopeful Gates could become more involved with Team Jackson someday.

"Maybe one day he'll be part of my crew," Evans joked.

Evans knew people might be confused those things, and it's been easy for him to laugh it off. However, there's been another byproduct from this past weekend's win, and it's no laughing matter.

"It just bothers me that people are so quick to be so judgmental and negative toward me even when I win a fight," Evans said.

Evans, "The Ultimate Fighter 2" winner who pushed his career record to 12-0-1 with the win over Liddell, attributed much of the current hostility to his toppling of a giant -- scoring an upset over such a fan favorite.

He also thinks some fans misinterpreted some of his foot and head work as showboating, which he said just isn't true.

"People are just so upset that I won this fight," Evans said. "They're like, 'Oh, those antics, he's such a showboater.' I'm like, 'How was I showboating?' They way I move is the way I move. When I wrestled in college, I wrestled the exact same way. I have a lot of movement. That's just the way I move. That's what makes me feel comfortable, and people just get so mad about that.

"(UFC broadcaster) Joe Rogan is like, 'I don't know if Rashad Evans is trying to throw [Liddell] off his game or of he's trying to showboat. First of all, you showboat when you do something. If I haven't done anything, there's nothing to showboat about.

"I'm just trying to get my game going. I'm just like, 'What are you talking about?' If Anderson Silva did it, it would be 'superb technique,' but when I do it, it's showboating."

[Source]