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If Sokoudjou still wants to fight Shogun Rua, he’s going to have a much harder time making that fight happen now. According to Five Oz., Sok has been released by the UFC.

Light heavyweight competitor Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou can be added to the list of fighters recently released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com first became aware of Sokoudjou having been dropped from the UFC roster last week but could not find a second source for verification. However, published reports have surfaced on the Internet today confirming his release.

More UFC 89 presser photos at MMAWeekly.com

The UFC 89 weigh-ins took place today at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

All fighters made weight.

The weigh-in results via UFC.com:

• Chris Leben (186) VS Michael Bisping (185)
• Brandon Vera (203) VS Keith Jardine (205)
• Luiz Cane (206) VS Sokoudjou (205)
• Chris Lytle (170) VS Paul Taylor (170)
• Marcus Davis (169) VS Paul Kelly (169)
• Akihiro Gono (171) VS Dan Hardy (169)
• Neil Wain (254) VS Shane Carwin (264)
• David Bielkheden (156) VS Jess Liaudin (155)
• Sam Stout (155) VS Terry Etim (155)
• Jim Miller (155) VS David Baron (155)
• Per Eklund (156) VS Samy Schiavo (156)

Fighters in non-title fights are allowed to weigh in one pound over the weight class limit.

UFC 88 “Bisping vs Leben” will take place tomorrow, Oct. 18, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. The event will air via tape delay on Spike TV at 9PM ET/PT.

Sokoudjou is a man determined to fight Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. Following his win at UFC 84, Sok called Shogun out in the post-fight interview and hasn’t looked back. Words have been publically exchanged with Shogun more or less brushing it off by stating he will fight whoever the UFC puts in front of him. However, it appears Sok didn’t take too kindly to Shogun stating, “I’m not going to give this guy any attention even because I have fought better fighters than him,” and has issued a response via Fighthype.com.

If he’s fought better fighters than me, then I should be a nice little tune-up/comeback fight before he challenges Liddell. Shogun never really says that he would fight me. He just comes up with cute little punchlines to avoid the potential fight. It can be UFC 88 or something. They can title it ‘For Pride’ and have me fight Shogun as his tune-up and have Rampage-Wanderlei 3 as the headliner.

I like Sokoudjou’s way of thinking. If we’re going to get Rampage/Wandy III, I’m all about this fight taking place. I do want to see Chuck take on Shogun, but if that’s not going to happen this would be the obvious fight to make.

If you happened to have continued watching UFC 84 after the BJ Penn/Sean Sherk fight, you would have the seen the fight between Sokoudjou and Nakamura. After Sok beat Nakamura down, he called out fellow PRIDE standout Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in the post-fight interview. Shogun, formerly ranked as the number one light heavyweight in the world prior to his disappointing loss to Forrest Griffin, was scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 until he reinjured his knee.

Shogun has been quoted as saying he still wants to fight Chuck later this year when they are both healthy. However, it is still unknown if that fight will still happen especially if the UFC is tempted enough to book a rematch with Chuck and Wanderlei Silva this fall.

If that is indeed the case, Shogun is willing to answer Sokoudjou’s call as he tells Tatame:

I fight anyone. I don’t choose my opponents. It would be a hard fight. He is very good at Muay Thai and Judo, but I would fight at his mistakes, as at Jiu-Jitsu.

I am back to train Boxing and now I will back with the rest of my training in phases. I hope to fight in October, November, I will see this better with my doctors.

Personally, I would rather see Chuck and Shogun go at it, but a match against Sokoudjou would be a good one too. Both fighters are explosive on the feet, but as Shogun alluded to, he would have a clear advantage on the ground.