On Saturday, April 18, 2009, the UFC will return to Canada with UFC 97 - Redemption. The event will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the main event, Anderson Silva will look to earn a record breaking ninth straight victory inside the UFC's octagon, as he defends his middleweight title against a fellow Brazilian fighter in Thales Leites, who is a winner of five straight. In the co-main event, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Chuck Liddell will square off in a light-heavyweight tilt between two former champions in desperate need of a victory. Since coming over to the UFC from PRIDE, Shogun has suffered two debilitating knee injuries and a submission loss to Forrest Griffin, while earning a lackluster win over the aged Mark Coleman in January. Meanwhile, Liddell suffered a hamstring injury last year, while dropping 3 of his last 4 bouts.

Also featured on the main card is a light-heavyweight battle between former WEC light-heavyweight champion and decorated U.S. Marine captain Brian Stann against TUF 8 semi-finalist and IFL veteran Krzysztof Soszynski. In heavyweight action, two of the sport's hardest hitting kickboxers will collide as Cheick Kongo of France takes on Antoni Hardonk of the Netherlands. Then in another light-heavyweight contest, two of the division's brightest up-and-comers will meet as the Brazilian KO machine Luiz "Banha" Arthur Cane takes on former WEC champion Steve Cantwell. The event will air live on PPV at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST.

Main Card:

-Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites (Middleweight Title Bout)

-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Chuck Liddell (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Brian Stann vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk (Heavyweight Bout)

-Luiz Arthur Cane vs. Steve Cantwell (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

Preliminary Card:

-Eliot Marshall vs. Vinny Magalhaes (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Denis Kang vs. Xavier Fouka-Pokum (Middleweight Bout)

-Nathan Quarry vs. Jason MacDonald (Middleweight Bout)

-David Loiseau vs. Ed Herman (Middleweight Bout)

-Mark Bocek vs. David Bielkheden (Lightweight Bout)

-T.J. Grant vs. Ryo Chonan (Welterweight Bout)

-Matt Wiman vs. Sam Stout (Lightweight Bout)