UFC 85: Hughes vs. Alves

Newly released information on London, England card:

Former Welterweight champion Matt Hughes returns to action  June 7 in London, England to fight Thiago Alves as the main event of UFC 85. Hughes is coming off of a loss to St. Pierre in December. After talks about his  retirement, Matt will return to headline yet another UFC card.

Hughes said he has no plans to retire despite the outcome of this fight with Alves. As he said on his website, The fight Thiago Alves is confirmed, it will be the main event for UFC 85. Dana just called me with the news. Chuck got hurt and couldn’t fight, so he needed a replacement and called me and I said yes … No matter what happens in this fight, I’ve got Serra next.

The UFC 85 card from London, England  will also feature bouts between Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day and Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera. that MMAWeekly.com confirmed with both fighters earlier this week. Note: All three bouts have been added in the wake of Chuck Liddell being injured.

Main card as is:

1. Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves
2. Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera
3. Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites
4. Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day
5. Marcus Davisvs. Mike Swick
6. Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera

Prelim. Card as is:

1. Ryo Chonan vs. Roan Carneiro
2. Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman
3. Luis Arthur Cane vs. Jason Lambert
4. Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor
5. Neil Wain vs. Antoni Hardonk

Matt Hughes training out of his own gym "The H.I.T. Squad" and Alves trains out of ATT(American Top Team). This matchup is the classic grappler vs. striker.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera is a very interesting Heavyweight fight with definate title implications. Werdum now training out of the famed Chute Boxe Academy and Vera traveling between his own gym and visiting w/ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's camp in Big Bear, California. This matchup is between two top-tier jiujitsu practitioners w/ Vera having a slight advantage on the feet.

Nate Marquardt from Greg Jackson's team vs. Thales Leites who trains out of the Nova Uniao team. The winner of this matchup will be the fighter who gets the better edge of the feet as both fighters have won the majority of their fights by submissions.

Michael "The Count" Bisping vs. Chris " The Crippler" Leben. Both fighters are coming off of impressive victories. This fight no doubt will be on the feet with Bisping having crisper strikes and Leben possessing more power in his punches. Bisping, however, has a better overall striking game then Leben. Both fighters being fairly even on the ground.

Rashad Evans, fellow teammate of Nate Marquadt vs. Team Fairtex fighter James "The Sandman" Irvin. Everyone knows Rashad's gameplan for this plan. "Get it to the ground!" Evans should use his wrestling ability to keep Irvin planted on the canvas or against the cage for the duration of the fight. I've been saying this for a long time that Irvin has some of the best standup in the sport and he hits like a freight-train. Rashad will spend the duration of this training camp in New Mexico w/ Greg Jackson and Irvin will spend the next four-weeks in Thailand training @ the Fairtex Muay Thai Academy then he will spend the rest of the camp in Big Bear, California with Rampage Jackson, Michael Bisping, and the crew. "Bout has been cancelled due to Irvin w/broken foot"

Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick: After Mike Swick's previous performance in the Octagon he should be training all out for this fight as he will have to bring his A+ game to compete against Davis. Davis possesses BIG time KO power with a solid jiujitsu game. Swick is quicker then Davis w/ his strikes but Marcus still possesses the better overall striking game. Jiujitsu could be slightly even as we've seen both competitors submit opponents.

Martin Kampmann from Xtreme Couture vs. Jorge Rivera from Mark Dellagrotte's, Sityodtong Academy. Kampmann hasn't competed since submitting Drew McFedries @ UFC 68. Rivera is coming off a KO win in his last fight against Kendall Grove. Inactivity for Kampmann could play a big role for Kampmann given that he's coming off serious injuries. Rivera has more KO's on his record while Kampmann is pretty even across the board w/submissions and tko/ko's.

Predictions:

1. Thiago Alves
2. Brandon Vera
3. Thales Leites
4. Michael Bisping
5. Marcus Davis
6. Martin Kampmann
7. Roan Carneiro
8. Matt Wiman
9. Luis Arthur Cane
10. Paul Taylor
11. Antoni Hardonk

Note: Predictions are subject to change upon information I get.