UFC 85: Mauricio Rua vs. Chuck Liddell
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has signed to fight on former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in June at UFC 85 in London, England. Rua recently confirmed the rumored bout with Sherdog.
Rua (16-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) entered the UFC in 2007 with high expectations after winning 4-straight fights in PRIDE but was upset in his UFC debut by Forrest Griffin. He holds notable career wins over Ricardo Arona, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Quinton Jackson, Alistair Overeem, and Kazuhiro Nakamura. Following his loss to Griffin, “Shogun” underwent surgery to repair a torn knee ligament.
Liddell (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC) looked unstoppable after winning 7-straight fights over some of the sports best fighters between 2004 and 2007. However, he next suffered back-to-back losses to Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine and his fighting future was in question. In December he participated in one of the top fights of 2007, defeating his rival, Wanderlei Silva, in a unanimous decision slugfest.
For more on UFC 85 check out the MMAFrenzy.com rumors section.
Tags: Chuck Liddell, mauricio rua
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I have to think that Chuck’s takedown defense will keep it standing long enough for him to get some looping roundhouse in to knock Rua out. Chuck did try to take down Wandy though, so maybe he wants to prove something.
Chuck’s takedown defense is pretty much legendary and you have to see the fight being a standup fight. The list of people that said they would take Chuck down and then got KTFO is not small. For Shogun this is a bad matchup. Nobody has ever been able to effectively utilize the clinch against Chuck either, at least not that I can think of; so no knees or elbows either. This is the problem when fighting Chuck, he fights from a distance; someone needs to seriously attack his legs with kicks from both sides and try to reel him in.
I can wait for Chuck to continue his comeback. He is not my favorite fighter but A very exciting one to watch. He is a legend that I think will KO Rua. I thought Tito was supposed to fight Rua but it must have been someone else. Go Chuck. I am going to his book signing this monday in Albuquerque.
Honestly, I think Rua should have to face someone much less dangerous than Liddell after his loss to Griffin. Though Liddell isn’t the champ anymore, I don’t feel that Rua has earned enough in the UFC to get a crack at him.
Tito has been offered a fight with Machida but I haven’t heard that he has accepted?
Hold on…….
What is the deal with a fight like this? after knee surgery shouldnt rua get at least one warm up fight ?REDICULOUS!!! But it’s signed now so that is that . If shogun can land a few knees and kicks to the body and shoulders of Liddel to slow him down he may have a chance . Unfortunately his stamina needs work like his brothers does so going for a decision win is not healthy . god bless the flying knee….. Should be entertaining with liddel winning by way of 2rd KO .I love to watch Shogun fight and would love to see him win but you cant ignore the signs .
It would make sense if they gave Rua a warm up BUT what hit does he really take if he loses. Even with loses in back-to=back fights he remains a viable contender because his losses came to the upcoming contender Griffin and the former-champ and potential contender in late-2008 Liddell. I think booking fights like this actually make a lot of sense because the contenders that emerge are a lot more legit than if they fight weaker opponents and only string together one or two wins over good opponents.
Thumper – Ortiz confirmed that he agreed to the Machida fight a week or two ago.
Gonna be a tough one. Will Rua lose 2 in a row?? He was in my eyes the best LHW out there b4 he came to the UFC. I want chuck to win but its a tough one.
At least I give Shogun credit for steppinup and takin a touh fight after his loss to forrest. I would like to see forrest fight wanderlei.
I don’t know that he deserves a warmup, injury is part of the game and when yuou are a top contender there should be no easy fights.
I would have liked to see The Iceman fight Jardine again. I think Jardine caught Chuck at a time when he wasn’t concentrating on fighting. Jardine wouldn’t stand a chance against the Iceman now.
Chcuk is going to KO rua. Chuck is going to do what he always does slug it out. Chuck his going to catch Rua with a Right and then a left and thats all People.
bad match for rua i no im a big chuck fan and will big him up no matter what but chuck will knock him out in the first then take on jardine knock that joker out then go on to fight rampage who will still be champ and beat him some time in the second via KO. go chuck!!
has jardine got a fight comeing up maybe wandi could take him to school save him from a chuck beating!
wooo…i cant wait for this, i like both fighters and it would be an entertaining match. rua has unorthodox striking skills so if chuck would just counter punch he would get the upper hand!
u all no nothing about mma shogun is a more rounded better fighter that fought on a torn acl and will beat chuck he alredy has beat quiton rampage very easily and we all know how bad chuck got beat up by him learn somthing before u open ur mouths and look stupid
i think this will be a good fight. i hve to give the edge to liddell.rua is a great fighter i just think that chuck will have enough to take him out.
trueufcfanfromstart how can u say no one nos nothing about mma when ur saying rua will win cos he beat rampage and rampage beat chuck thats not how things work so my advice to u is think before u open ur mouth
Who has ever heard of refighting a fight after a convincing ko. because the guy you want to win lost. Why not let them fight until Chuck wins that way you will not be wrong. Stop taking credit from were it’s due. Randy slipped in their 2 fight so maybe Chuck didn’t really win that or is it the guy with his hand raised at the end. Chuck has been proven to be beatable by Rampage twice, go figure.
The only 2 LHW fighters that are not booked for the next 4 months are: Jardine and Wanderlei, Hmmmmmmm……..
I heard Chuck didnt want to fight in london so he was gonna fight in Las Vegas on the same card as B.J. Penn and Sherk. Is this true?
Thumper…tito has accepted a fight vs machida..it’s happening may 24th in vegas…it might be tito’s last fight in the ufc..even though alot of people dislike him..if he does beat machida who is i think listed top 5 or 10 in rankings…i think the ufc can setup some good headlining bouts with tito only if tito wins…but that means dana needs to sign tito which doesn’t look like that’s happening…but dana did have his big investment BROCK lose saturday night so who knows
trueufcfanfromstart says:
u all no nothing about mma shogun is a more rounded better fighter that fought on a torn acl and will beat chuck he alredy has beat quiton rampage very easily and we all know how bad chuck got beat up by him learn somthing before u open ur mouths and look stupid
Have you read this post? You’re calling people stupid; however there are numerous errors in your post. You should proof read your posts to avoid sounding “stupid” yourself. That’s just some friendly advice.
The UFC better give Brock Lesnar every chance to fight again. I think he’s going to tear up the entire heavy weight class, including the the Russian and Randy.
Shogun is going to prove you all wrong. Chuck’s time as champion is over.
Reading this is funny to me. Rua lost to Griffin, but he shouldn’t have even been in a ring. He was already cleared to be having knee surgery prior to that fight and yes he wasn’t doing his normal conditioning (which is his fault). But he should’ve had the surgery and recovered from it prior to going against Griffin. Instead of going into that fight with a serious injury. Not sure why people don’t think he has a chance. Remember Chuck got knocked out twice by Rampage. Rampage got totally smoked and knocked out by Rua. The UFC rules don’t favor his fighting style, but I still say Rua beats Chuck by KO.
Chuck should win this fight, but if he goes up against Rampage, he’ll lose again.
But I’m not picking Rua simply because of how he schooled Rampage and how Rampage dominated Chuck twice. Cause in the MMA world, anything can happen. But I do think Rua is a much more well-rounded fighter. I just still can’t understand why he fought Griffin while pending a knee surgery. That just didn’t make sense. Dana White knew Griffin had a huge advantage, but it was a way for him to try to make his stable of UFC fighters look much better than they are. Not saying that Griffin isn’t a great fighter, but if he would’ve fought Rua when he was free of injuries, especially in ring under Pride-like rules, I think Griffin would’ve been humiliated.
has the date been finalised i thought it was 14 june but its rumoured 07 june
your all completly wrong rua was undef in pride he was ranked # 1 in the 205 weight class and the 2nd under fedor E. in the pound for pound class and now his knee is better he will take chuck down he will win
One important thing that you guys are forgetting is that Shogun had a lot of success in Pride when he was able to kick or stomp the face of a downed opponent. He will not be able to do this in the UFC which takes away a big part of his game that made him so dominant in the pride game. Just my two cents. GO CHUCK
mmafan311, I don’t think anyone is forgetting that. Of course one of the best parts of his game was taken from him, from going to an organization that doesn’t allow his knee strikes or stomps, but if he’s 100% for this fight against Chuck, it certainly won’t be an easy fight for Liddell. As a matter of fact, I think he’ll tear Chuck apart. Chuck is a great fighter, but I don’t think he is nearly as good as Shogun. The bottom line is that Shogun shouldn’t have been fighting anybody while he was pending that operation. It wasn’t the Shogun that anyone is used to seeing, and if he gets a rematch I’m sure we’ll see the real Shogun. He didn’t appear to have trained the same way as usual either. He probably couldnt, due to that injury. He isn’t use to losing and I’m sure he’ll be far more prepared and (hopefully) totally healed from the surgery. I’m picking Shogun by KO in the 1st round. Could finish in the 2nd, but I’m expecting it to finish fast.
Wandy is going to face jardine, i would of liked to see chuck face rashad evans
you are all crazy if you think chuck is going to dominate or even win. Shogun is one of the best light heavy weights out there. If he’s at 100% he will whoop rampages punk ass for a third time and I know that that doesnt neccesarily mean he will whoop chuck. But he will! let’s not forget that he is also an accomplished jiu-jitsu fighter as well as muay thai. He’s explosive as hell and coming back with a vengance after that loss to sloppy chump griffin. When your opponent is only at 50-65% its easy to win, forrest. Rua should have not taken that fight until he was ready.
So many of you guys keep going back to Rampage beating Liddell, then Rua beating Rampage and saying that’s the only reason that Rua would win. Serra knocked St Pierre out last time but does anyone think that’s going to happen again? Liddell causes all clinch and ground fighters problems, look at fights against Babalu and Couture (both BJJ or ground and Pound fighters) four KO’s.
Chuck is fighting Rashad Evans in place of (Shogun). The match up stinks to me, Rashad is going to get killed out there. Rashad has not fought a guy with that kind of caliper yet. I believe the fight will be a fast KO with Liddell’s hand getting raised at the end.
Rua is going to kick liddell’s ass the same way he almost kill rampage. everybody thinks that the ufc has the best fighters but they don’t. Please stop being ignorant and learn more about MMA from other people not just ufc people they only wamt to sell more ppv.{ rua kills liddell }
i think liddels deff a better fighter shud win
but after his lose to evans i duno if he can fight his way back
i mean shud be intresting of the old chuck isfightin..
liddel 2 nd roung stoppage tko