Balls airs London featured matches

LONDON, England – Filipino mixed martial arts fans get a frontside seat to world-class hand-to-hand combat fights as Balls, a cable channel by television giant ABS-CBN at SKY Cable, airs some of the featured matches in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 85: Bedlam beginning tomorrow.

The main bout at the sprawling O2 Arena fronting the Thames River here pits UFC legend and former two-time champion Matt Hughes against No. 10 contender Thiago “Pitbull” Alves in a welterweight bout that replaced the original duel between Chuck “The Iceman” Lidell, easily the most popular UFC fighter to date, and the equally exciting Rashad Evans.

Lidell, who is also here in London to watch the fights, sustained a knee injury recently, forcing UFC organizers, headed by president Dana White, to find a replacement bout.

“I’d like to thank both Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves for stepping up to fight,” said White in Thursday’s media launch at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Royal Victoria in this historic city.

Other featured fights highlighting UFC 85 are the middleweight bouts of London native Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Dooms” Day and swing bouts of Mike “Quick” Swick and Marcus “The Irish Grenade” Davis in the welterweight class and Thales Lietes and Nate Marquadt in middleweight division.

Focus, however, will be on Fil-Am Brandon Vera, who takes on Brazilian Fabricio Werdum in a heavyweight battle considered as an eliminator with the winner earning a title crack against interim champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira in the future.

Other preliminary bouts include Marftin Kampmann versus Jorge Rivera (middleweight), Thiago Tavares against Matt Wiman (lightweight), Kevin Burns versus Roan Carniero (welterweight), Luiz Cane against Jason Lambert (light heavy), Jess Liaudin versus Paul Taylor (welterweight) and Eddie Sanchez against Antoni Hardonk (heavy). – Joey Villar