UFC 85
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.
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, but Liddell was forced to withdraw from the card due to a hamstring injury.
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. Hughes took the fight on short notice as a favor to the UFC and Alves came in four pounds overweight.
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, and Neil Wain was replaced by Eddie Sanchez.
Results
Preliminary card
* Welterweight bout: England Paul Taylor vs. France Jess Liaudin
Taylor defeats Liaudin by split decision (29–28, 29–28, 28–29).
* Heavyweight bout: Netherlands Antoni Hardonk vs. United States Eddie Sanchez
Hardonk defeats Sanchez by KO at 4:15 of Round 2.
* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Jason Lambert vs. Brazil Luiz Arthur 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: Brazil Roan Carneiro vs. United States Kevin Burns
Burns defeats Carneiro by submission (triangle choke) at 3:53 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: United States Matt Wiman vs. Brazil 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: Denmark Martin Kampmann vs. United States 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: United States Brandon Vera vs. Brazil Fabricio Werdum
Werdum defeats Vera by TKO (strikes) at 4:40 of Round 1.
* Middleweight bout: United States Nathan Marquardt vs. Brazil 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: United States Mike Swick vs. United States 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: England Michael Bisping vs. Canada Jason Day
Bisping defeats Day by TKO (strikes) at 3:42 of Round 1.
* Catchweight (174 lb) bout: United States Matt Hughes vs. Brazil 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.
- Fight of the Night: United States Matt Wiman vs. Brazil Thiago Tavares
- Submission of the Night: United States Kevin Burns
- Knockout of the Night: Brazil Thiago Alves
