Mauricio “Shogun†Rua will have little time to savor his hard fought victory over Mark Coleman at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland. The Brazilian light heavyweight has already been tapped to headline UFC 97, scheduled for Apr. 18 in Montreal, Canada. The card is the promotion’s second date in the French Canadian province. The bout was originally rumored to take place at UFC 85, but a knee injury to Rua scratched the possibility. Saturday's fight was his first since a submission loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 76. Liddell’s last appearance was at UFC 88, where he suffered a brutal knockout loss to current light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans. The former light heavyweight champ has repeatedly welcomed a bout with the former Pride superstar. The upcoming bout may be for a number two contender spot, as the UFC recently announced that former champion Quinton Jackson will face Keith Jardine at UFC 96. Evans remains without an opponent for his first defense, widely anticipated to take place this summer. Rua’s taxing bout against Coleman was one of the few fights to garner a second “Fight of the Night†bonus from the promotion. The former rivals were awarded $40,000 each for their efforts. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/...=7982&zoneid=2
Rua was very unimpressive last night.....but geez, Liddell is shot to bits.....not a fight that i'll be getting excited about
yeah, but one Chuck win will probably mean two or three more fights.....if he loses here, then it will surely have to be curtains?....and that would be a very good thing
What's with the GARBAGE main events coming up? Jackson/Jardine and Liddell/Rua should be on the SAME card.
Nothing against Rua but I really hope Chuck clocks him and lay him out cold. I've never seen anything special in Shogun.
I've seen clip of shogun from Pride and he looked an awesome fighter but against Coleman he was very average.
Too right. Shit stand up, shit take down defense, shit stamina. If Coleman had been a few years younger Rua would have been toast.
Actually I was very disappointed with shogun, I'll think I'll give him a pass due to the fact that he is only back fighting. His next bout is vital if he wants to make a big slash at the UFC
Shogun is 27 years old ,he is far from done.He needs to join an MMA camp in the states to improve his cardio and I think joining Jackson mma camp will be the right place for him.Its done wonders for GSP and Rashad Evans
Based on the Rua that showed up this past Saturday night versus the Liddell that showed up against Evans, I like Liddell.
I was thinking the same thing:bangh: These are not main event worthy fights. The only way I'm forking out the cash on these two is if the undercard is seriously stacked.
Yep. Anybody who looks vulnerable enough for Chuck to beat will be thrown in with him. If he beats Rua you can't count on him headlining another main event.
I hope the buyrate numbers fall for those fights so that they are forced to put on better cards. They are trying to go the boxing route and see how much of a blind following they do have.
Other than GSP\Penn 2, the announced fights for this year are rather pedestrian. I didn't even order UFC 93, and I usually order them all. I'm hoping the reason they're holding off on all the good fights to give us a stacked UFC 100. TFK
I was thinking along the similar line. The one thing I am suprised with the UFC is it seems like sometimes they try to sell their "stars" rather than their champions. I can't see why they can't have a champion fight for every UFC main event. Put these kind of fights on those undercards. It just seems like they try to sell stars and familiar names more than they even try to promote a new champion such as Evans Maybe I am being a bit naive, but I am much more interested in shelling out cash to watch a championship on the line than I am to watch two has been stars in a main event
Shogun looked real bad against Coleman. I really can't see him beating even this faded version of chuck. I doubt he'll be able to KO chuck, and if it goes past one, Shogun is toast. The guy needs to seriously train, something isn't right with this guy. 27 years old and gassing out almost as bad as a mid 40's Coleman who admitted he didn't train for shit? Does shogun hate running as much as James Toney or what?
I am confused where are all the new stars that Rogan said the UFC were creating that boxing couldn't make no more. All these upcoming cards are headlined by past their prime guys. They even want Tito to come back at UFC 99.
