Former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell suffered a shocker in the hands of comebacking Mauricio “Shogun” Rua during the co-feature of UFC 97: Redemption at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Rua, who earlier beat UFC legend Mark Coleman in a so-so performance, dropped Liddell with a well-timed counter in the first round.

According to UFC.com, Rua took down the former champion for a submission in the middle of Round 1, but Liddell broke loose and tried to set up his offense.

Liddell was reported on the aggressive side when Rua tagged him with a left hook to the head, toppling the Iceman down to the canvass. The Brazilian then reportedly finished him off with a series of right hands, prompting the referee to stop the fight at the 4:28 mark of the round.

“I’m disappointed,” Liddell was quoted after the fight. “I had a great camp, I was in great shape.”

With the win, Rua improved to 18-3 while Liddell fell to 21-7.

Silva retains middleweight title

In the main feature, UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva successfully was reported to have defended his title against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites in a “lackluster” five-round match.

Judges saw it 49-46, 48-47, and 50-46, all in favor of the Spider.

The first two rounds reportedly went slow for Silva who had to challenge Leites to engage into an all-out fight.

Silva stepped up the action in the remaining rounds, but the challenger was somewhat half-hearted in his attacks.

“It’s unfortunate that things sometimes turn out that way, but when you’re not in here, it’s hard to tell what going on sometimes,” said Silva. “Sorry.”