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Wednesday, October 31. 2007
Chuck Liddell and Wanerlei Silva may fight in December
One of the most anticipated fights in the short history of mixed martial arts is Chuck Liddell versus Wanderlei Silva. Since 2003 this on again, off again match up has teased fans of both the UFC and Pride fighting championships, but now it looks like the fight may be on again.
UFC 79 on December 29th, 2007 is the rumored date for the fight to take place. The venue is in Las Vegas and the anticipation could not be any higher. It's true that both Wanderlei and Chuck are coming off back to back losses, but when you look at those losses and the quality of opposition it's clear that both of these guys are still at the top of their game.
Wanderlei Silva has fought an absolute who's who of 205lb mixed martial artists and won the vast majority of those battles. He's defeated Quinton Jackson twice in dominant fashion, defeated Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Kazushi Sakuraba, but has yet to face the best of the "new" UFC. How will Wanderlei match up against Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine, Houston Alexander or Forrest Griffin? I personally think that Wanderlei's strength, power and aggression is difficult for any fighter to deal with. He has a wild style that could either make it a very easy night for Chuck, or the worst night of Chuck Liddell's career.
Wanderlei likes to throw looping heavy punches, much like Chuck does, although Chuck's are just a touch straighter. The difference is in the clinch and ground game where I believe that Wanderlei Silva has a distinct advantage over Liddell. If Wanderlei gets Chuck in at close quarters it will be a very tough night for Liddell and three losses in a row may spell retirement for the "Ice Man".
Chuck Liddell needs no introduction to mixed martial arts and especially UFC fans. He has defeated two legends of the sport twice each. With big wins over Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell established himself as the UFC's top light heavyweight player for much of the last three years. However, Chuck is coming off of two losses. The first was a flash knockout loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, with that loss the belt changed hands and Quinton became the new light heavyweight champ.
Chuck's second loss is more interesting. It came to Keith Jardine, now most MMA fans would argue that Jardine is strong and tough, but Chuck went into that fight as the favorite. The fight was close and the judges gave the decision to Jardine. There wasn't a single take down in the fight meaning that Chuck, formerly the most feared striker at 205lbs has been beaten twice in a row, both time on his feet.
In the fight with Wanderlei Silva, if Chuck can keep his composure and land some big straight shots inside of Wandy's wild looping punches he can make a short night's work. Chuck hits very hard, but most of his really hard shots seem to be looping overhand rights, I don't think those will be particularly effective against Wanderlei Silva; Chuck needs to throw straight. Also, Chuck Liddell should avoid the clinch with Wanderlei at all costs, if he needs more incentive he should watch Wandy's two fights with Quinton Jackson.
Let's all just hope that this fight happens as the rumors state on December 29th. I'm not picking a winner or a favorite in this fight, I just want to see it happen.
Check out UFC Results for your UFC 77 Results
Thursday, May 24. 2007
A funny feeling - Chuck vs Rampage
As the Chuck Liddell vs Quinton Jackson fight draws nearer, I am getting a very strange feeling. The intellectual in me says that it's just the UFC marketing machine building up the fight, but I can't help but feel that Liddell is genuinely worried about Rampage and Rampage genuinely believes that he's going to "whoop Chuck's ass".After watching the UFC 71 countdown and UFC All Access, Rampage edition, I can't help but feel this way. Now, the UFC has fooled me before (see Renato Babalu Sobral vs Chuck Liddell), but this time is different.
I watched the first Rampage vs Liddell fight live (or as live as any of the Pride matches being fed from Japan were) and I thought that Chuck would have a rough time, but defeat Rampage. I was suprised that Rampage ran over Chuck like he did, then lost so decisively to Wanderlei Silva. It was this sequence of events that made me start believing that the Pride talent pool was much deeper than the UFC's. Of course events since then have proven that to be incorrect (as a general statement). Anybody who witnessed Ricco Rodriguez vs Antonio Nogueira should know that the UFC (and former UFC) fighter are right on par with their Pride counterparts. Big Nog won that fight, but I thought it was closer than the judges did.
Chuck vs Rampage...we could be seeing a changing of the guard. Of course, I am a glass half full kind of guy, so what can we expect if Rampage does win?
How about Chuck vs Wanderlei? These two have wanted to fight for a long time and with both coming off losses, it may be the perfect time. Or would Dana White give Chuck and instant rematch against Rampage? That would probably depend on Chuck and his camp. If it is a close fight which comes down to a decision, I could see this happening...if it is a decisive Rampage victory then I don't see a reason for it.
With Shogun entering the UFC (see the Chute Box home page for this info), it would open up Shogun vs Rampage 2. Where does Dan Henderson fit into this picture? Ideally I'd like to see Dan fighting at middleweight and taking on Anderson Silva.
Any way, for now this is just a feeling. Feel free to comment on my sixth sense!