Chuck Liddell Injured, Forced To Withdraw From UFC 85 Main Event
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell has suffered a torn hamstring and has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 85 main event bout against Rashad Evans, the Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced.
Here’s an excerpt from the official announcement:
“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.”
White continued, “We’re adding fights to the card and rearranging it so the UK fans won’t have to worry, we’ll still be bringing an amazing card to London and the O2 Arena. The UFC always delivers.”
The UFC will announce a new main event shortly, along with a full lineup of 13 fights for the UFC 85 card, making it the biggest UFC event in over a decade.
James Irvin has reportedly agreed to replace Liddell against Evans in the UFC 85 main event. Irvin has won three of his last four fights in the UFC including his past two straight. His last UFC loss came as the result of a serious knee injury suffered against Thiago Silva at UFC 71. Previously he was defeated by Stephan Bonnar and Mike Kyle in UFC bouts. Inside the octagon he has earned victories over Terry Martin, Hector Ramirez, Luis Arthur Cane, and a record-setting 8-second knockout of Houston Alexander.
Click the above image for a larger picture of Liddell’s torn hamstring courtesy of UFC.com.
For more on UFC 85 check out the MMAFrenzy.com rumors section.
Tags: Chuck Liddell, James Irvin
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That’s nasty!!! I’d say that’s a legit injury!
When this card was first announced the suggested bouts were mouthwatering, I mean, Liddell, Rua, Lesnar, I couldn’t wait. Now I wish I wasn’t going & I certainly wish I wasn’t paying £300 to watch 10 fights that do not capture this imagination whatsoever. Next time the UFC come to the UK I think were owed some kind of amazing fight card because this one & what we saw in Newcastle simply do not cut the mustard!!!!!!
that’s a really nasty injury and is definitely legit. unfortunately, the only fight that i considered worth watching on this card is now scrapped. this one’s pretty much gonna suck unless the dana does something super drastic! sucks for all u uk fans who already bought ur tickets, oh well.
Damn, that blows
Any Ideas on what the UFC plans on doing to make up for this ????????? ( James Irvin is a possible replacement but that fight can’t sell a PPV )
James Irvin is the only fighter that doesn’t have a fight already lined up. However, I agree with you Dirty, although it should be a pretty decent fight is definitely not a PPV headliner. They could plug Thiago Silva back in against Evans. These two were tabbed to face each other prior to Evans gettting the Liddell fight. Irvin could then take Silva spot against Antonio Mendes.
Ugh, James Irvin. What about Tim Boetsch? I’d rather see him, than James Irvin. But that won’t happen. What about Sokoudjou?
hahahahaha TIM BOETSCH!?!?! Is he your relative or something?? Come on…why would anyone in their right mind want to see Tim Boetsch fight instead of…well….anyone?! He won his 1st fight…fantastic…but lost to hammil… he looked bad….he is a boring fighter to watch… James Irvin is VERY exciting to watch…the guy knocked out Alexander in 8 sec..he also has the most infamous flying knee vs Terry Martin.. Irvin will be a title contender soon…but people forget about him since he was out for a yr!
I wouldnt mind the Thiago Silva vs Evans.. but Silva is fighting in May…and I doubt the would cancel that fight….but who knows…dana is desperate…
thats a terrible blow to this fight card…only fights i can see happening to replace it is
evans vs irving
rich franklin vs bisping
hendo vs franklin or bisping
i really dont know though because i wanted to see liddell vs evans bad
What about Hendo vs Evans ?
Hendo doesn’t want to fight middleweight anyway ….
evans vs. hendo
evans vs. irvin
evans vs. hamill
these seem like decent matchups to replace lidell. granted, neither one of these guys has the name that chuck lidell has in this sport (the closest one would be henderson) but i think they would be pretty good fights to watch. as for main event status, i just don’t think that’s gonna be possible for this one with lidell outta the picture.
I think they have a main event on the undercard..personally…I think Werdum vs Vera is going to be a great fight…winner will prob get Nog….Sure its not as great of an attention grabber than a fight with Liddell…but I think this fight will be and would have been better than Liddell Evans….but that could just be me…
I like Henderson vs Evans…that would be interesting…I would even like to see Franklin vs Hendo…but June MIGHT be too early for Franklin to fight again, but then again..he didnt get hurt vs Lutter…so maybe that could be a go? Then have that as the main event…undercard would be Evans vs Thiago Silva (put in a no namer vs whoever he is supposed to fight at 84)… hell.. why not put in a rematch of Irvin vs Alexander on that card as well?? so you add those 3 fights with the Werdum vs Vera…that makes for a good card in my opinion..
Good call Dirty! Henderson-vs-Evans would be the absolute best possible match up, ecspecially on a PPV card!
no way gutted, i say hammill steps up
none of the fights you guys have mentioned have and ‘overseas main event’ kind of draw. Now if Dana were to simply tell Tito to suck his c… and just release him out of that last fight, that could free up Machida. Then you could tell Anderson Silva he’s got a title defence coming up in June. Hell, then you could even throw in the English Bisping against Franklin, as already mentioned. And once again, you have an amazing card. Just a thought.
actually, even better, then you could just tell rashaad that it’s time for his rematch with Tito. Pull Machida, face him against Anderson, and throw Evans to face Tito (cause honestly, everyone knows that without Tito grabbing the cage, Evans lost that fight)
The ROB : Just curious, are you serious or just playing around because your not making any sense at all……were talking about actual possibilities here.
Little bit of both
There’s really nothing Dana can do to, as he has promised, “bring an amazing card to London and the O2 Arena. The UFC always delivers.â€
He could replace Liddell with Machida to have the winner earn a title shot, although that leaves Tito out on a limb …not that that would bother Dana though. He did, after all, confirm the fact that he hates Tito Ortiz on tsn’s “Off the record”
Why not give Hendo a shot at Tito? He is coming off a loss, remember. It just seems that with Machida as powerful as he is, and being 12-0, he should be walking a path to a title shot, not being used at a stepping stone for Tito’s exit from the UFC.
Machida needs more fights before he can get a title shot…sure he is 12-0 but not in the UFC.. he is 4-0 i think…and his biggest name he beat was Sokoudjou who is 0-1 in the ufc….doesnt really scream title contender…he needs to fight Tito and beat him before he is considered a contender…I dont know if he fought evans and beat him if that would make him a contender… since evans hasnt really beaten anyone either…
I just think the UFC is screwed…i really dont see anyone they could bring in to face evans to make it as a desirable match up without liddell.. I bet Dana will make this free for the US people to watch to help smooth things over…..not sure what he would do for the UK fans though..?
To his credit, Machida has scored victories over both Bj Penn and Rich Franklin. Granted, it wasn’t in the UFC, but if Matt Serra and Travis Lutter win title shots by beating out washed up nobody’s, why wouldn’t you give Machida a title shot?
with that logic, i agree with you… because i think that was a total joke letting barely has beens be able to win a reality show and take the place of someone who deserved a shot…
but i just think that there are more deserving guys who should get a title shot than Machida… like…Keith Jardine, unless he loses in may… machida though should be next unless he loses to tito…
This could be a dumb idea to some….but I wish they would change stuff up a bit…like have a playoff type format at ppv’s…like 1 ppv feature the top heavy weights….then the winners of those fights would face each other 2-3 months later…the next ppv would be the next weight class….and just do it like that…would be interesting….that way it would take away people saying forrest deserves a shot over jardine, and vice versa…..fight…get it over with!!!
I agree THE ROB that Machida is very close to a title shot and might become a champ one day but don’t expect there to be any messing around with the “ILL WILL ” PPV card….just from a business stand point, Bud Light is presenting it and the card will not be touched.
In my opinion this fight is a test for Tito. If he beats a warrior like Machida, it proves he’s fully into fighting again and who knows, the UFC and Tito have worked through rough situations, they might offer him something big…..
If he looses, and I believe the UFC expects him to loose, then hes gone 100%…
I know that Tito has made it public hes done with UFC but i think if the UFC is willing to promote him again as a top fighter, he might stay.
Dana and Tito have always hated each other, its not a surprise to anyone.
Just my opinion …………
well that sucks for liddell but no matter wht it hurts him, ya he will get a good fight when he gets back, but it takes alot to recover from an injury like this….who will rashad fight….who knows
THAT SUCKS!!!!!!I was looking foward to this fight but that’s o.k. I understand s*** happens. I look foward to seeing this bout in the future.Get well Chuck.YOU STILL THE MAN!!!!
hahaha if thats chuck why not shot his face i dont buy it anybody that does is an idiot!!!!
This isn`t WWE here sal… They don`t show his face, cause it`s a picture of a hamstring. It was posted on UFC.com I`m sure they don`t just go making **** up for the fan`s sake.
Hey sal that does look his gut!
they shouldnt have rashad in the main event, it should be a main card fight but not a main event. have vera and werdum as main event now.
There are rumors that Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben is going to be added as the co-main event with Evans vs. Irvin.
I know I could get flamed for this but to SELL tickets having Evans rematch Stephan Bonnar would be good. Bonnar can argue his injury hurt him in the first fight, I know it was a snooze fest but both fighters have improved, and it’d sell tickets.
if hendo could make weight in time put him against okami or marquardt.
What an absolute load of s***!!
Me and my freinds have spent a future on Flights, Hotels & Tickets – without Chuck the card sucks – replacing Chuck with irvin as a main event would be a joke and very disrespectful to UK fans!!!
And Vera v Werdum is never a main event – Especially in front of 20,000 fans at the O2!!
Best outcome here is a co-main event with Tito fighting Evans (if the UFC change the Mancida fight)and Bisping fighting either Leben or Franklin…
I know s*** happens… but very dissapointed to not see Chuck fight!
well, I am devastated at the news of chuck not attending. I am absolutely stunned. I knew full well when buying tickets the card is at risk of being changed at any point, but I never imagined this could happen to the UK fans, esp with chuck. I am so so so down it’s unreal. I have paid over my budget regarding the tickets, just because the ufc had chuck for the first time over here, and it’s the only venue near me really. I agree that the Newcastle card could have been better.
As for Dana doing ppv for free in the US, what about us who have paid more this time for tickets than the last ufc event at the O2? they were cheapest at £25 last time, this time the cheapest is £45
Kind thought that chuck maybe had something to do with the price, just a maybe, but no free programmes or merchandise vouchers our way eh?? ha ha.
Still, altho I am well sad chuck is not fighting, I have had chance to simmer down and respect it all.
I just hope they put someone very good in aswell as Verra, he is brilliant but I cannot deny that Chuck was the steal of the show for me and probably loads of others.
I would like to see Franklin maybe vs Bisping, as said before by someone. What has Tim Sylvia got infront of him at the moment? I would like to see him alot.
I dunno, I guess my imagination is just in topsturvy state as from the news of chuck.
I hope it truly does turrn out an outstanding event. I guess my chance to see chuck will never materialise now, I am crushed.
Get well soon Chuck.
they should make it 15 fights instead and air at least 10 of them on ppv by extending the ppv time too. i agree although it’s not something that can be controlled (injuries are gonna happen all the time in training, even to the big-time fighters) it is unfair to all the fans who spent money or who were planning to buy the event on ppv.
i don’t see y it isn’t possible to get bisping, franklin, okami, or even hamill in there. neither bisping nor franklin really got hurt last saturday and putting hamill and okami somewhere on the card (obviously not against each other) shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
hendo vs. irvin
tito vs. rashad
bisping vs. franklin
verdum vs. vera
davis vs. swick
machida vs. hamill
anthony “rumble” johnson vs. huerta
marquardt vs. leites
wiman vs. tavares
lambert vs. cane
some other fights prelim fights
just a thought
and the main event…
kalib “running man” starnes vs anderson “the spider” silva
if im not mistaken didnt james irvin fight stephan bonnar and lose by a kimoura or something of that nature
He sure was Tom, I left of a few of his bouts but I updated the story. Thanks.