The UFC 84 main card has been announced and it’s going to be a good one. The long –awaited fight between Sean Sherk and B.J. Penn is the main event. Penn has returned to old form, and Sherk is hungry to get his UFC Lightweight belt back after it was stripped following a positive steroid test.

The undercard has Keith Jardine taking on Wanderlei Silva. Silva seems to be past his prime, and Jardine is coming off a big win over Chuck Liddell. Jardine could find himself in a title fight with either Quinton Jackson or Forrest Griffin if he wins against Silva.

Other bouts include:
Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic
Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz
Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes

Preliminary Card:
Rousimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Rob Emerson vs. Terry Etim
John Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Dong-Hyun Kim vs. Jason Tan
Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch

Without the Iceman, will anyone pay to watch UFC 85 on Pay-Per-View?

A torn hamstring is what’s keeping Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell from making the trip out to London next June to take part in UFC 85. In his place will be James Irvin (14-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC), who recently won UFC Fight Night 13 earlier this month. Commenting on the injury to Liddell, here’s what UFC president Dana White had to say:

“Being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight. But I wouldn’t let anyone fight with his leg looking that way. Let him heal and come back and fight when he is 100 per cent.”

So, here’s what your UFC 85 Main Card and Preliminary Card look like:
Date: June 7, 2008
Location: London, England
Venue: O2 Arena
Broadcast: Pay-Per-View

MAIN CARD (TELEVISED)
Rashad Evans vs. James Irvin
Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum
Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt
Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera
Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick

PRELIMINARY CARD (NOT TELEVISED)
Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert
Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman
Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor
Antoni Hardonk vs. Neil Wain

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The heavy favorite to win back the UFC welterweight title, French Canadian Georges “Rush” St. Pierre finished the fight with a series of punches and huge knees to Matt Serra’s body at 4:44 of the second round in front of a North American MMA record crowd of 21,390 at the Bell Centre.

St. Pierre (15-2, 10-2 UFC) won back the UFC welterweight title belt he lost to Serra last year at UFC 69 in Houston. But the big winner on the night was UFC president Dana White, who was not only impressed with GSP’s fight but also with Canada’s love affair with mixed martial arts.

“He looked like the real Georges St. Pierre tonight. He came out on a mission and implemented his game plan. Serra said you’ve never seen anyone beat me up in 8½ years — he got beat up tonight. I’d call Georges pound-for-pound No. 2 in the world (behind UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva).”

UFC 83 went down as the biggest fight and fastest sellout in UFC history. And Georges St-Pierre looked every bit the new Canadian hero.

“He should be on the cover of a Wheaties box here in Canada,” added White.

The long-awaited rematch of Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre finally went down on Saturday night at UFC 83 in Montreal. The results were as predictable as the method that GSP used (a barrage of knees) to win a second-round TKO over Matt Serra. GSP put his recent training with the Canadian National Wrestling Team to use by taking Serra down from the start, and completely dominating him on the ground. After a few elbows to the face, and even more knees to the ribs, Serra was beaten down enough for the ref to step in.

Rich Franklin easily handled Travis Lutter in a Middleweight bout, winning by TKO in the second due to strikes. Michael Bisping looked trim as a Middleweight, dominating submission expert Charles McCarthy for a first-round TKO due to strikes.

Nate Quarry defeated Kalib Starnes by unanimous decision, and Mac Danzig submitted Mark Bocek by rear-naked choke.

UFC 86 promises to be an entertaining night. The main event will be Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defending his Light Heavyweight Title against Forrest Griffin. The two are currently coaching the Ultimate Fighter 7.

Rampage is the heavy favorite to defend his title. Odds are currently set at Rampage as a -260 favorite, with Forrest coming in as a +200 underdog. Griffin earned a shot at the title by defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-3) at UFC 76: Knockout in September.

Jackson has only fought once, against Dan Henderson, since winning the title from Chuck Liddell in May of 2007. “I think this fight with Forrest will be a great fight, we both like to please the crowd and we both have the same agenda, we both want to win this fight,” Jackson recently told reporters.

UFC 86 will be held on July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas.

The month of April is certainly a busy one for MMA action. The big event of the month is the UFC 83 promotion that will have Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra fighting for the UFC Welterweight Championship. It’s scheduled for April 19 on pay per view. The rest of the card consists of:

Travis Lutter vs. Rich Franklin
Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes
Charles McCarthy vs. Michael Bisping
Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig
Joe Doerksen vs. Jason MacDonald

This Friday (April 11th) there will be Yamma Pit Fighting debuting on pay per view and will feature Don Frye (19-6-1) and Oleg Taktarov (15-5-2), as well as an eight-man heavyweight tournament.

Dream 2 will take place in Japan and will feature the first round of a middleweight grand prix.

And don’t forget the new episodes of Ultimate Fighter 7 that will air on Spike on April 16th and 23rd.

The folks at UFC like to plan ahead. With their huge UFC 83 event in Montreal still two weeks away, the card for UFC 86 in July is already being filled out. Your hosts: the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Here’s the expected main card:

Light Heavyweight Championship: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
Lightweight: Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
Middleweight: Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida
Welterweight: Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle
Heavyweight: Frank Mir vs. Justin McCully

The folks at American Top Team  spilled the beans just over a week ago about the addition of four of their fighters to the card. Tibau made it onto the main deck, while Cole Miller, Steve Bruno and Ben Saunders are awaiting word on their opponents.

Although the UFC hasn’t officially announced anything, it’s believed this event will be called UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin. Jackson is the –260 favorite, Griffin the +200 underdog.