Official: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin at UFC 115

[Boanerges]

Reports, rumors and denials have been swirling around the main event of UFC 115 for months. Was Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin the main event as the media reported (including us), or was it Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz as UFC President White insisted, refuting reports of Liddell-Franklin just hours after surfacing?

Well, the UFC has apparently had enough of protecting The Ultimate Fighter 11 television show. The Liddell-Ortiz saga will not reach a trilogy -- at least until later in the year -- as the promotion announced Monday through UFC.com that Liddell will indeed fight Franklin on June 12 in Vancouver, Canada.

Just last week, White told Joe Ferraro of Sportsnet's MMA Connected that "the definite main event is Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell. That is definitely the main event."

Of course, if the UFC had revealed Liddell-Franklin sooner, it would indicate an obvious change in the direction of the taped show. But with a main event as a prerequisite to begin selling tickets, the UFC has apparently been forced to reveal the matchup.
By Ray Hui

The UFC also confirmed the rest of the UFC 115 card.

Pay-Per-View Bouts
Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
Mirko "Cro Cop" vs. Pat Barry
Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann
Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald
Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham

Preliminary Bouts
Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
James Wilks vs. Peter Sobotta
Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox

[Boanerges]

Wonder why Tito is not fighting? Also, wonder what happened to the Alves/Fitch match?

[WickedBalls]

Yeah,I wonder too? Thanks for keeping up on all the fight info and posting it! I know its a lot of work. I rarely reply to threads,but I read the heck out of 'em!

[Big Gunns]

Wonder why Tito is not fighting? Also, wonder what happened to the Alves/Fitch match?

Liddell was expecting Tito not to fight him. He said so in the show.

[nicktreb]

I'm pretty sure Tito is having health issues, or at least claiming he is. He could just be avoiding getting punched over and over again by liddell. Franklins last fight he looked pretty scared to get hit also, and it kind of looked like he took a dive at the end, I expect this fight to be similar with Liddell.