[The Seer]

Shogun OUT, reinjures knee

Rashad Evans is Rua's replacement
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Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (16-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has re-injured his knee and has been scratched from a UFC 85 main event with Chuck Liddell (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC).

The news comes from Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com.

According to the report, Rua ruptured the ACL in his left knee, which is the same injury that forced a surgery after a UFC 76 loss to Forrest Griffin.

UFC 85 takes place June 7 at the O2 Arena in London. The UFC will announce a replacement for Rua "shortly."

The 26-year-old made his octagon debut at UFC 76 and suffered an upset submission loss (via rear-naked choke) to Griffin. Prior to the bout, the Brazilian PRIDE veteran had won 12 of 13 fights. He recently underwent knee surgery but had returned to training earlier this year.

Rua will again go under the knife. There's no timetable for his return to the UFC.

Liddell, who won the UFC's light-heavyweight title at UFC 52, made four successful title defenses before a loss to Quinton Jackson this past May. He then dropped a split decision to Jardine in September for the first back-to-back losses of his career. However, he rebounded for a unanimous-decision victory over Wanderlei Silva in the co-main event of UFC 79 back in December.

He'll look to build upon that win at the 02 Arena, the same 16,000-capacity venue that hosted September's UFC 75 event.

For the latest UFC 85 fight card, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com

[goldengoat]

i think chuck beats either guy

shogun's standup is overrated and evan's takedowns are not good enough to keep chuck on the ground

too bad the public loves chuck so much and would bet him so heavy

[slacker00]

Yeah, this one will absolutely stay on the feet. Chuck should be able to take Evans apart if he stays patient. But, Evans has that pesky style that makes him hard to put away. Chuck is kinda like the Mike Tyson of MMA, where if he doesn't land a knockout early, he gets more and more vulnerable. Evans almost seems like he might be Chuck's Buster Douglas.

If the line gets way up there around -350, I've gotta go with the dog.

[Saunders FTW]

Lets not even put Lidell in the same category with Mike tyson. Please god, this Shogun getting hurt is a huge dissapointment. Now the card will be shit

[slacker00]

Pinny has the line up: Liddell -244, Evans +224.

This is about where I woulda set this line. Another no-play for me.

[The Kimura]

Even after chuck's great performance against wanderlei,this is still a good play to take rashad.I could easily see him winning a decision against chuck.May not be pretty but I think he can take Chuck down and keep him down.

[slacker00]

Originally Posted by The Kimura

Even after chuck's great performance against wanderlei,this is still a good play to take rashad.I could easily see him winning a decision against chuck.May not be pretty but I think he can take Chuck down and keep him down.

Keeping Chuck down is no joke. But, Rashad has as good a chance as anyone. He's got great base, great standup, especially against a good boxer like Chuck. If Rashad can hold Chuck down, Chuck is in a world of trouble.

Personally, I think Chuck will get his pokes in and Rashad will have to weather an early storm. I don't think Rashad can get an early takedown and will have to bide his time, counterpunching without getting knocked out. Maybe late in the first round, if he's still conscious, he can try for a takedown and Chuck might have gassed himself a bit enough to have a chance. But Rashad will have to get some solid hits on Chuck to set up the takedown. I think he can do it. But, Chuck will not go down easily.

[ukgaz]

I think there will be quite a size difference in this fight as well which may play a big part in whether Evans can get the takedown

[slacker00]

Originally Posted by ukgaz

I think there will be quite a size difference in this fight as well which may play a big part in whether Evans can get the takedown

They are both fighting 205. What do you mean by size difference?

[ukgaz]

Originally Posted by slacker00

They are both fighting 205. What do you mean by size difference?

Chuck is a big 205. Chuck I believe is 6'3 maybe 6'4 and cuts a lot of weight. Rashad is 5'11 ( 6'0 at most) and there has been talk that he would be better of at 185. Rashad was the smaller guy against Tito but he still did well in that fight. I think Rashad does better against Chuck than Tito did as he is more explosive though he will struggle with the reach disadvantage

[The Kimura]

I like both guys,but Im really liking Rashad here and Im not sure why? Just a feeling,I guess.I am hoping Rashad has really trained and will thrown in more stuff.I hate the lay n' pray type bouts.The rashad head-kick KO of sean salmon was sweet!

[slacker00]

Originally Posted by ukgaz

Chuck is a big 205. Chuck I believe is 6'3 maybe 6'4 and cuts a lot of weight. Rashad is 5'11 ( 6'0 at most) and there has been talk that he would be better of at 185. Rashad was the smaller guy against Tito but he still did well in that fight. I think Rashad does better against Chuck than Tito did as he is more explosive though he will struggle with the reach disadvantage

If you're talking reach, then yeah, Chuck has an edge. But Chuck has a huge edge in the standup in every scenario. Rashad's only chance is to "weather the storm" of the first round or two and let Chuck punch himself out, if that's possible. Rashad has to try what Randy Couture did to beat Chuck: counterpunch, get in close and clinch and finally try for a takedown if that stuff wears Chuck down enough.

I still think Chuck wins 2 out of 3 times, which is where the line is set. I wanted to take Rashad getting as little as 3 to 1, but it wasn't to be.

[JJOdin]

Here is a review:

http://www.submittomma.com/articles/...s_preview.html

I personally think that Chuck's reach and takedown defense will keep Evans at bay until he lands that big knockout punch.

[Saunders FTW]

Chuck takes this, Evans has got a wrestling style and lidell has great take down defense, i just dont see rashad taking chuck down, and chuck is obviously the superior striker

[goldengoat]

this is rashad's only chance

http://rashaddance.ytmnd.com/

[Thor4140]

I think this is a bad matchup for Chuck. Chuck doesn't do the greatest with guys with boxing abilities. The size advantages as someone pointed out is for real tho and that might be huge. Hell i just saw Frankie Edgar get beat by Greg Maynard. Both were at the 155 limit but if you don't think Maynard had the size and strenght advantage maybe you shouldn't watch MMA. The last two times Chuck went against guys that can box he lost. Rampage and Jardine. Those guys were Chucks size tho. Also with Rasheed he looked very winded against Bisping. Could be a problem. Good fight to just watch and forget about betting.

[slacker00]

Rashad always looks winded. That's his style. lol. He's a brawler.

[Saunders FTW]

Originally Posted by goldengoat

this is rashad's only chance

http://rashaddance.ytmnd.com/

yep

[slacker00]

Originally Posted by goldengoat

this is rashad's only chance

http://rashaddance.ytmnd.com/

lol. I hope he does this against Chuck. Chuck will turn him into a bobble head.

[Saunders FTW]

i hope so, Chuck TKO second round