UFC 85

Infobox MMA event
name=UFC 85: Bedlam


promotion=Ultimate Fighting Championship
date=June 7 2008
venue=The O₂ arena
city=London, England
buyrate= 225,000
previousevent=
followingevent=

"UFC 85: Bedlam" was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), on June 7 2008 at The O₂ arena in London, England.cite web |title=UFC Returns To London|url=http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail.fightCard&eid=1109 |publisher=UFC.com |date=2008-03-06 |accessdate=2008-03-08]

Background

The card was plagued by a number of injuries sustained by scheduled fighters, forcing the UFC to rework the card several times. Originally, the main event was to be between light heavyweights Chuck Liddell and Mauricio Rua; however, Rua required surgery on an injured knee and could not compete. Rashad Evans then replaced Rua in the main event with Liddell, cite web|author=Thomas Gerbasi|title=Rua Re-Injures Knee, will undergo Surgery|publisher=UFC.com|url=http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=10635|date=2008-03-04] but Liddell was forced to withdraw from the card due to a hamstring injury. cite web
url=http://mmajunkie.com/news/4187/chuck-liddell-injured-out-of-ufc-85.mma
title=Chuck Liddell Injured, Out of UFC 85
last=Foster
first=Eric
publisher=MMA Junkie
date=April 21, 2008
accessdate=2008-04-22]

The UFC then named James Irvin as Liddell's replacement to fight Evans, but Irvin sustained a foot injury that forced him to pull out. Evans was then removed from the card as well. The main event was then changed to Matt Hughes against Thiago Alves.

In other changes, a Jonathan Goulet and Paul Kelly match was abandoned when Goulet dropped out citing a lack of training time, followed by Kelly withdrawing before his opponent could be named because of an injury sustained in practice. Due to legal problems which resulted in a lack of time to prepare for his fight with Michael Bisping, Chris Leben was forced to withdraw from the card and the UFC announced Jason Day would face Bisping. Ryo Chonan was replaced by Kevin Burns, cite news|url=http://mmajunkie.com/news/4435/kevin-burns-expected-to-replace-ryo-chonan-at-ufc-85.mma|title=Kevin Burns expected to replace Ryo Chonan at UFC 85|first=Dann|last=Stupp|date=2008-05-27|accessdate=2008-05-28] and Neil Wain was replaced by Eddie Sanchez. cite news|url=http://mmajunkie.com/news/4440/more-ufc-85-changes-eddie-sanchez-replaces-neil-wain.mma|title=Another UFC 85 change: Eddie Sanchez replaces Neil Wain|first=Dann|last=Stupp|date=2008-05-28|accessdate=2008-05-28]

Results

Preliminary card

*Heavyweight bout: flagicon|Netherlands Antoni Hardonk vs. flagicon|USA Eddie Sanchez:Hardonk defeats Sanchez by KO at 4:15 of Round 2.

*Welterweight bout: flagicon|UK Paul Taylor vs. flagicon|FRA Jess Liaudin:Taylor defeats Liaudin by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).

*Light Heavyweight bout: flagicon|USA Jason Lambert vs. Flagicon|Brazil Luis Cane:Cane defeats Lambert by TKO (referee stoppage) at 2:07 of Round 1. The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the PPV broadcast.

*Welterweight bout: flagicon|BRA Roan Carneiro vs. flagicon|USA Kevin Burns:Burns defeats Carneiro by submission (triangle choke) at 2:53 of Round 2. Much was made of the fact that, at the time, Burns was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt, while Carneiro is a black belt.

*Lightweight bout: flagicon|USA Matt Wiman vs. flagicon|BRA Thiago Tavares: Wiman defeats Tavares by KO (punch) at 1:57 of Round 2. The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the PPV broadcast.

*Middleweight bout: flagicon|DEN Martin Kampmann vs. flagicon|USA Jorge Rivera:Kampmann defeats Rivera by submission (guillotine) at 2:44 of Round 1. The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the PPV broadcast.

Main card

*Heavyweight bout: flagicon|BRA Fabricio Werdum vs. flagicon|USA Brandon Vera:Werdum defeats Vera by TKO (strikes) at 4:40 of Round 1.

*Middleweight bout: flagicon|USA Nathan Marquardt vs. flagicon|BRA Thales Leites:Leites defeats Marquardt by split decision (28-27, 28-27, 27-28). Marquardt had 2 points deducted during the fight, one in round 2 (illegal knee to the head of a downed opponent) and the other in round 3 (elbow to the back of the head).

*Welterweight bout: flagicon|USA Mike Swick vs. flagicon|USA Marcus Davis:Swick defeats Davis by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 29-27. Swick had 1 point deducted in round 3 for holding the cage.

*Middleweight bout: flagicon|UK Michael Bisping vs. flagicon|Canada Jason Day:Bisping defeats Day by TKO (strikes) at 3:42 of Round 1.

*Catchweight bout (175lb.): flagicon|USA Matt Hughes vs. flagicon|BRA Thiago Alves:Alves defeats Hughes by TKO (knee and punches) at 1:02 of Round 2. Alves was unable to make the welterweight limit of 170 lb, officially weighing in at 174 lb.

Bonus awards

At the end of this event, the UFC awarded $50,000 to each of the fighters who received one of these three awards. [ [http://mmajunkie.com/news/4525/alves-burns-wiman-and-tavares-earn-50k-ufc-85-bonuses.mma Alves, Burns, Wiman and Tavares earn $50K UFC 85 bonuses | MMAjunkie.com ] ]

*Fight of the Night: flagicon|USA Matt Wiman vs. flagicon|BRA Thiago Tavares

*Submission of the Night: flagicon|USA Kevin Burns

*Knockout of the Night: flagicon|BRA Thiago Alves

References

External links

* [http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDetail.FightCard&eid=1109 Official UFC 85 Fight Card]