UFC News

News

– UFC 85 took a big hit when Chuck Liddell had to pull out of his main event bout against Rashad Evans. UFC.com is advertising a completely new card as well as a name for the event. The event, now entitled Bedlam, will feature a main event of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves. That is an interesting main event and the rest of the televised card plays out as follows:

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick
Rashad Evans vs. James Irwin
Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum

UFC 85 airs on pay-per-view from London, England on June 7, 2008.

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Kenny Florian will face Roger Huerta in what will likely be a #1 contender match for the UFC Lightweight Title. The bout is rumored to be a part of the UFC 87 card that also features Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Coleman in August.

– Former Ultimate Fighter 4 contestant Charles McCarthy has announced his retirement from active MMA competition, as stated at MMAWeekly.com. According to McCarthy, “My goal in my career was always to be the best, and you know it just didn’t work out this time. I’m okay with that.”

MMAJunkie.com reports that the UFC has released middleweight Travis Lutter from his contract. This is interesting considering the lack of depth in the middleweight division. Lutter earned a middleweight title shot from The Comeback season of The Ultimate Fighter but was beaten by Anderson Silva after failing to make weight. That was likely a huge factor in his release. The official reason given to Lutter was that he lost two fights in a row. With both of those losses coming to Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin, it’s not very fair to base a release on those losses.