Bad news for Shogun fans that were expecting to see the Pride middleweight sensation take on Chuck Liddell at UFC 85, as Mauricio Rua injures the same bad knee once again.

Due to ruptured ACL, Shogun Rua has been forced to pull out of his match that was scheduled for June 7 in London against "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell.

The injury is once again in the left knee, the same knee that he had surgery on last October after his loss to Forest Griffin at UFC 76. He will once again undergo surgery very soon and there is no word yet as of when he might return to the octagon. The knee injury is a huge setback to Rua who was training like never before and was highly motivated for this fight.

Liddell’s new opponent has yet to be named but according to the UFC, he will be announced shortly. Chuck is coming off of his huge win over "The Axe Murderer" and will be looking to string together some more wins. Chuck dominated the light heavyweight division for over three years until finally being stopped by Quinton Jackson at UFC 71 in May of 2007.

As for Rua, he claims that he will be back and better than ever as soon as possible. Rua’s spokesman Eduardo Alonso had this to say regarding Shogun.

“He thanks his fans for all the support,” said Alonso. “It means a lot to him.”

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua told Sherdog.com that he has signed to fight Chuck Liddell.

"The fight against Liddell is confirmed," Rua said. "I signed the contract yesterday. Now I am going to train hard, focused on him, to represent my new team, Universidade da Luta, and my country. The fight is going to be in June."

Before Rua’s debut in the UFC he was considered by many to be pound for pound the best light heavyweight in the world. He earned his reputation in Japan’s Pride organization, dominating the middleweight division and defeating top level fighters such as Kevin Randleman, Ricardo Arona, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and the UFC’s current light heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson.

Rua has a record of 16 wins and only 3 losses. Even more impressive is his TKO and KO percentage. 13 of his 16 wins have ended by either knock out or technical knock out. He has only one submission under his belt which is amazing considering he has very good jiu-jitsu. Most of his opponents just don’t make it that far with him.

His UFC debut at UFC 76 was very disappointing and a huge upset to world of mixed martial arts. He was a huge favorite in his fight against Forrest Griffin. Griffin shocked the world and defeated Shogun via rear naked choke at the end of the third round. Forrest even impressed himself and proved to himself that he belongs in there with the top level fighters.

Liddell on the other hand is coming off of a huge win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79 in what was considered one of the biggest fights in MMA history. The fight was seven years in the making and finally both fighters had a chance to prove who was the king of the light heavyweight division. Each had been champion in their organization. Liddell defeated Silva via unanimous decision after three of the best rounds the world of mma had ever seen.

At the end of 2007 Shogun left the famed Chute Boxe camp that he had trained with for so long in Brazil. He just recently started training again after knee surgery. He and his brother "Ninja" Rua are currently developing a new fight team in the US.

This fight will be an absolute mixed martial arts masterpiece painted by two of the best martial artist in the world today. Both fighters have pin point precision striking and both have a lot of power so we are in for a treat. The fight is set to take place in June.

More extreme mma news is coming!