The UFC 85 Nightmare is Now Over for UFC Management

It seemed as though UFC 85: "Bedlam" was cursed from the beginning.

The main event of the card was originally supposed to be Chuck Liddell vs Mauricio Rua. However, Rua had to pull out of the main event due to having surgery on an injured knee.

No problem, UFC management thought. Chuck Liddell is our biggest draw, and as long he is on the card, the fans will go home happy regardless.

Rashad Evans was then slotted in to take Rua's spot in the main event. This was going to be a good match - Evans was undefeated and a rising star in the UFC, and Liddell was looking to fight his way back into a light heavyweight title shot.

Disaster struck. Liddell hurt his hamstring while training for the fight, and despite his objections, was forced to pull out of the main event.

This forced the UFC to scramble to try and find a new headliner for the card. Dana White called all of the big UFC stars in his Rolodex. Georges St. Pierre still hadn't yet recovered from his fight with Matt Serra, and wouldn't be ready in time. Anderson "Spider" Silva was having surgery and wasn't able to fight. Other stars had either just fought, or were scheduled for already-booked fights in the near future.

Dana White turned to Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves, who both readily accepted the fight on short notice. Hughes had been talking about taking some time off, but didn't hesitate when he was called into action. The UFC now had a passable main event - now they had to worry about bolstering the rest of the main card.

James Irvin signed on to replace Liddell and take on Rashad Evans. Another fighter fell victim to the UFC 85 curse, as Irvin injured his foot and was forced to pull himself off the show. Evans was removed from the card altogether.

Chris Leben signed on to fight Michael Bisping, but was also forced to pull himself off the show. Leben had some outstanding legal issues in Oregon that would have hampered his ability to travel to England for the show, so he turned himself in, hoping to clear up his legal status in time to fight Bisping. Leben was hoping to spend 10-14 days in jail, but was instead sentenced to 35 days. This would have only given him a few days to train and travel to England for the fight, so he was forced to remove himself from the show as well. Jason Day stepped in and took his place on the card.

Then, Jonathan Goulet was slated to fight Paul Kelly, but the match was dropped after Goulet claimed that he didn't have enough time to train for the fight. The UFC was going to name a new opponent for Kelly, but he also injured himself and couldn't fight on the card.

The UFC did an admirable job of pulling the card together despite tremendous adversity. They can now look forward to two very strong summer cards, UFC 86 and UFC 87, which will be headlined by Griffin vs Jackson, and St. Pierre vs Fitch.

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