Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua to headline UFC 97 in Montreal
The UFC has decided that a light heavyweight matchup between former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and former PRIDE standout Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will headline the promotion’s UFC 97 event tentatively scheduled for April 18 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of the news on Saturday night from a source close to the bout. UFC President Dana White officially announced the bout during a UFC 93 post-fight press conference.
The final decision was made to book the fight following Rua’s third round TKO victory over Mark Coleman during Saturday’s UFC 93 event in Dublin, Ireland. The victory improved Rua’s overall record to 17-3 and his record while competing for the UFC to 1-1.
The fight vs. Coleman was Rua’s first since a third round submission loss to Forrest Griffin during UFC 76 on September 22, 2007. The former Chute Boxe Academy member was sidelined for nearly a year and a half due to a recurring knee injury that required surgery.
Liddell has lost three of his last four fights and has not competed since being knocked out by Rashad Evans at UFC 88 this past September.
In addition to Liddell vs. Rua, other bouts anticipated for UFC 97 include UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva defending his title vs. Thales Leites, David Loiseau vs. Ed Herman, and Tamdan McCrory vs. Jonathan Goulet.
Sam Caplan is the President of Combat Sports Media, LLC, the parent company of FiveOuncesOfPain.com. CSM is a B-2-B outsource solution in the MMA industry and provides PR, web management, and other consulting services to MMA companies. Clients of CSM include the Combat Sports Championships and Showtime.
| All posts by Sam Caplan
After Shogun’s performance today this looks like a gift to Chuck.
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Ya unless the real Shogun shows up not today’s version Chuck has this in the bag.
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I don’t think this cuts it as a headlining fight. If Anderson Silva isn’t fighting in the co-main slot, this is card will be weak on top. I thought Lesnar and Mir were in the discussion for Montreal? How long will we be waiting for them to face off if they’re not going at it in April?
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Haha it’s really far-out! Rua is finish.
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Eric, Mir/Lesnar is a go for UFC 98, May 23rd
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More evidence pointing toward the “all belts on the line” UFC 100…
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Thanks Jason, I hadn’t seen that anywhere.
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Liddell by rape
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What’s this crap about the ‘real’ Shogun? You mean the juiced up Pride Shogun?? That WAS the real Rua tonight and it proves he was never all that good, just the beneficiary of a lot of hype. If he looks anything like he did against Mark Coleman when he fights Chuck, the Iceman puts him to sleep easily.
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all belts on the line @ UFC 100 would be sweet
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Real shogun will beat liddell and any fake will too. iceman is a shell of what he is
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Dana needs to fire Shogun like he did Werdum…Shogun isn’t good enough for the UFC!
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HAHAH…… Chuck has looked like crap his last 5 fights…….Shogun is going to finally be in shape and he is going to KO Chuck with a Kick in round 2….Chuck is like 69 years old
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Bottom line: If the Shogun that fought Forrest and Coleman fights Chuck, Chuck will add another knockout victory to his resume’.. But if the Shogun that brutalized Rampage, Overeem, Randleman, etc. shows up [which i'm starting to think is unlikely] we’ll probably see Chuck broken down with leg kicks and eventually put out..
just sayin’…
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liddell 2 win after shoguns performance 2nite
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Should be Shogun vs Rampage and Jardine vs Liddell
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Both would be REVENGE fights
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good shout,still rampage vs jardine has all the makings for a great fight both like to stand and bang,jardine also likes to throw nasty leg kicks could be a repeat for jackson from the forest fight, very dangerous fight 4 rampage
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UFC is stretching it THIN! No title fights and headliners (UFC 97, 98) that would have been third or fourth fights on new years show….come on…and don’t give me that this is the new years eve show bulls*#$
Are the UFC crazy…they are just lucky I can scrape 4 of my friends together to pitch in to watch this BS..but today it took some selling on UFC HENDO vs. Franklin..
If they are running only good cars every four months maybe they should slow down or thin out the Stacked cards and spread them out….
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if they are running only good CARDS (typo)
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derreck, Silva / Leitis is scheduled for UFC 97.
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Looking forward to this fight.
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where does henderson and bisping fit
in to all this
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Should that even be considered a title fight…who’s leitis? I have gotten the last three years of UFC ppv’s only missing the USA vs. Canada. I can’t recall who the F this guy is…why should I care if he get’s a title shot? Atleast Cote headlined UFC no name against TITO back in da day…
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Chuck has the style to beat the expected “Chute Boxe style”, so I see Chuck hopefully getting himself back on the road to victory. If the same Shogun that barely beat Coleman shows up to fight the Iceman, Chuck will have a very short night before he’s notching another W.
I hope this was a fluke; I want to see these two throw down. On paper, this should be a great fight. I’m gonna remain skeptical however.
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Yet another shit ass fight by the UFC! As if the Coleman-rua wasn’t bad enough! What a disgrace!
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This is a good fight, and its a way for Chuck to get back in the mix, he should win, and with Spider on the card its a nice card. But who said Mir vs Brock is in May? Bullshit, They will save that for the main event of UFC 100 July 4th or that weekend. He is a PPV monster, no way he fights in the end of May then early July, so Serra vs Hughes, then I see maybe BJ/GSP vs Pit Bull, BJ vs Kenny, or Rashad vs Machida as the other fight, not Brock. And June in Germany will be a Spike event with no title fights on it, so 100 should get Brock vs Mir, GSP/BJ vs Pit BUll, Kenny vs BJ, Rashad vs Machida, or Rampage and Spider vs Okami?? I think you can get a mix of Brock vs Mir and probably 2 of the other remaining title fights on that card. I would be shocked if Mir vs Brock wasnt on this card, Brock is a PPV monster, that fight alone could do close to a million PPV buys, add in 2 more title fights like GSP vs Pit BUll and Rashad vs Page or Kenny vs BJ, or say BJ wins the WW belt, have BJ vs Pit BUll, Kenny vs Sherk, let BJ vacate the LW title, and have GSP move to MW to fight Spider in a super fight. I mean you can have 3 or so of those fights on that card, it would be the biggest UFC card ever. So why waste Brock vs Mir for May? And they def will do a Primetime show for that fight.
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axl rose. mate what are you on about,maybe u like fights that end in the first few sseconds.it was agood fight 2 men standing and throwing serious haymakers loads of take-down by coleman,mark could have WON the fight if it went all the way. liddell vs shogun i think its very interesting again both like 2 stand and exchange.
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If Liddell loses this one he definitely should consider retirement. Although I really hope he ko’s Rua.
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if liddell lost this fight he will be back to being another bare bum in the shower, geme over is what im saying.or he could consider a diffrent weight class,like biping. liddell vs anderson silva ufc 100
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This fight has no intrigue to me whatsoever. They’re both finished. It makes sense when the UFC arranges fights with guys who have mass-market appeal, and I have no problem with that (i.e. Lesnar v. Couture). But Chuck and Shogun don’t have that anymore. They should market this one as “These 2 fighters were so great 2 years ago. . . ” In general, I’m disappointed with several of the upcoming LHW match-ups (Rampage v. Jardine: don’t wanna see that. . .). With a division so stacked, they could do so much better. . .
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Are their any rumors about whether Rua has to win or go home? If he gets his lunch handed to him by a diminshed Liddell, I don’t see why the UFC would keep him.
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Well looks like shoguns ufc Career is coming to a close chuck should have no problem knocking him out and im sure he’ll go back to fighting in japan.
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derreck- Thales Leites
Win Drew McFedries Submission (Choke) UFC® 90 SILVA vs COTE Oct-25-2008 1 1:18
Win Nate Marquardt Split Decision UFC® 85 BEDLAM Jun-7-2008 3 5:00
Win Ryan Jensen Submission (Other) UFC® 74 RESPECT Aug-25-2007 1 3:47
Win Floyd Sword Submission (Choke) The Ultimate Fighter® 5 Finale Jun-23-2007 1 3:50
Win Pete Sell Unanimous Decision UFC® 69: SHOOTOUT Apr-7-2007 3 5:00
Loss Martin Kampmann Unanimous Decision The Ultimate Fighter® 4 Finale Nov-11-2006 3 5:00
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