UFC has announced that former welterweight champion Matt Hughes will take on Thiago Alves in the main event of UFC 85 in London.
After Chuck Liddell suffered a hamstring injury that knocked him out of the main event at UFC 85, I questioned whether UFC could put a main event in place that would sell on pay-per-view. Hughes-Alves is the UFC's attempt to do that, and the fight will air on pay-per-view, not on Spike.
I still maintain that UFC 85 does not provide very good bang for the pay-per-view buck, and that it's a tough sell when it comes two weeks after a much better card at UFC 84 and one week after EliteXC and World Extreme Cagefighting are putting on good shows.
But Hughes is a popular former champion, and Alves is on a six-fight winning streak and coming off an impressive victory over Karo Parisyan. Given the circumstances, UFC did a solid job of keeping a decent card in place after its biggest star got hurt.
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