Is Liddell fighting Franklin instead of Ortiz?

A long anticipated second rematch between former UFC light heavyweight champions and “The Ultimate Fighter Season 12” coaches Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz is apparently on hold.

Liddell (21-7), coming off of a year-long layoff, is rumored to be facing former middleweight champion Rich Franklin instead. The bout, which was first reported by Fighters Only magazine, would be featured at UFC 115 on June 12. Multiple MMAWeekly.com sources confirmed the bout.

UFC president Dana White, however, denies the reports. Saturday afternoon White said the reports were not true, tweeting that the Liddell vs. Franklin, saying they would instead match Franklin up with Randy Couture.

MMAWeekly.com stands by it sources, believing that White’s response may be tied to Liddell’s participation on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Ortiz’s posts on Twitter during the show’s filming were sometimes rather cryptic, saying things like, “If things couldn’t get worse. They just did!” “Thinking that life couldn’t get any harder? It just did! Another challenge that god has given me! WOW.” and “Many things that challenge us in lives will make us stronger. One thing I can say is don’t ever quit. I’m strong because of my family and fan(s)!!”

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ys-mmaweek031310

UFC 115 Main Event Confirmed: Liddell vs. Franklin

The expected main event for UFC 115 was to be Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz III, a bout that was to be hyped throughout the current season of "The Ultimate Fighter," which has Liddell and Ortiz coaching. Instead, Franklin is stepping in for the UFC's first foray into Vancouver. This comes after president Dana White vehemently denied that Liddell would fight Franklin.

No reason has been given as to why Liddell is fighting Franklin, not Ortiz. Presumably, we'll find out the reasons by continuing to watch this season of TUF.

Franklin has been out of action since September, when he was TKO'd by Vitor Belfort in a catchweight bout. Liddell has also been out of the cage for some time, his last bout was in April 2009. He is also coming off of a loss, a knockout by Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Liddell's retirement was announced by White, only to have Liddell invited back to coach TUF and fight Ortiz. Now, in facing Franklin, two former UFC champs will face off.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-115-main-event-confirmed-Liddell-vs-Frankl?urn=mma,233702

UFC 115 Fight Card

We are just moments away till the UFC 115 Fight Card begins with Chuck Liddell Vs Rich Franklin. The fight is taking place at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The card has a lot of great match ups which could shape the UFC for years to come.

This is the list of the UFC 114 Fight Card:

Main card
Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
Heavyweight bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry
Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann
Heavyweight bout: Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
Welterweight bout: Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

Preliminary card
Lightweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham
Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

Preliminary card
Middleweight bout: David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda
Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Peter Sobotta
Welterweight bout: Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
Welterweight bout: Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox

UFC 115 - Watch Liddell vs Franklin Live Stream

UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 12, 2010 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

This will be the fourth UFC event to be held in Canada, following UFC 83, UFC 97 and UFC 113 and the first UFC event held in British Columbia since they passed a bill to sanction MMA, on December 17, 2009.[2] For a few days, this event location was in jeopardy because there are still no regulations in place to promote the sport professionally within Vancouver[3] and Cincinnati was rumoured to be a possible location for moving this event.[4] However, the problems were resolved and Dana White confirmed that the show will be going ahead in Vancouver on the scheduled date.

The main event was tentatively set to be a third bout featuring Ultimate Fighter coaches and former UFC Light Heayvweight Champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. In March, rumours began to circulate that Rich Franklin would replace Ortiz as Liddell's opponent, after Ortiz had supposedly withdrawn from the fight. However, Dana White denied this via his Twitter account on March 13th, 2010, noting that Liddell vs. Ortiz was still set to be the main event. Then after the announcement Ortiz has to withdraw from the match due to the surgery on his neck. It is confirmed that Franklin will face Liddell At 115 , while Franklin would face Randy Couture at an event later in 2010.

Despite confirming Liddell/Ortiz 3 would in fact be the main event for the card, the main event was confirmed on April 12 as Liddell vs. Franklin.
The on-again, off-again rematch between Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch, first scheduled for UFC 107 then UFC 111 and then UFC 115 has been moved again, to UFC 117.
Recently, the Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel fight replaced Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham on the main card. Griffin vs. Dunham will now be shown on the preliminaries aired on Spike TV.

Just like UFC 111 in March, UFC 115 will be shown in Movie Theatres around the United States by NCM Fathom.