Chuck Liddell fight [spoilers]

[sonnyd7]

ouch, that's gotta hurt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewi8goLhxAs

[Fallen_Horse]

As I understand it, he was a favorite for that fight, no?

[sonnyd7]

yep. this was expected to be a 'gimmie' fight for chuck. rashad evans isn't known to be a striker and is primarily a wrestler, which are the types that liddell usually eats for lunch. dana white's plan to get his golden boy a title shot though backfired in his face and I'm loving it.

I never used to be one of those dana white haters, until his whole getting in the way of a fedor/couture matchup. Thanks to his sorry ass we'll never see that fight.

[JP]

i dont know if you can say he was totally owned. The fight was a good standup fight all the way through, tactics played a good part there like Rashad said you cant just go and try to take down guys like Chuck because you will just get knocked out in the process.

I liked Rashads boxing style though, and he clearly was looking for that single connecting blow which would turn the events in his favour. Risky game though, could have gone either way really...

[SpugFab]

When a fighter comes forward at Chuck he can look pretty good. He judges the range well, moves laterally and counters with that big right hand.

When he's asked to come forward that big right hand begins to look a bit one dimensional and predictable. His movement becomes a bit straight ahead and he doesn't have much head movement either.

He needs another way to set up the right hand when a fighter doesn't come at him imo. I wonder why he was so keen to force the pace against Rashad.

sonny - I think there must be some chance that a Fedor fight can be made. I'm not saying it's likely, but I reckon it would form part of the truce between Dana and Randy that some efforts will be made and some UFC restrictions loosened. Maybe I'm a dreamer though...

[hoffmeister]

Please no spoilers in the thread name... :cry:

[SpugFab]

Watching some of the undercard fights, Brown vs Kim is a tough fight to call. Any opinions on that?

I guess Kim had a good start to the first round and good end to the last, meaning he could pick up two rounds there. Brown seemed to do the most damage, but maybe limited to round two.

[JP]

i think it was tough to call, but would have given it to Kim as well. Brown didnt connect that often and sure the leg kicks and others were coming in at good pace (that aggression and octagon control part) but no real damage compared to what kim did in the couple carefully timed elbows in the ground and pound.

I dont know how they score these things, but if someone goes a bit apeshit and throws blows left right and centre, but doesnt really do any damage or connect properly - and another guy just lands one or two deliberate and accurate shots, then i would favour the latter one.

[prenna]

Please no spoilers in the thread name...

I agree. There needs to be a rule. A strictly enforced rule.

As for the fight, Evans' hands were great. A real surprise. The whole LHW division is wide open at the moment. Noone is able to dominate, though Machida may come close.

Next LHW fights I want to see:

Evans/Machida
Jackson/Silva (Wanderlei not Thiago)
Franklin/Sokoudjou

I'm hoping that Rashad's efforts on Saturday night will me that developing some degree of boxing skill will become the next big trend in mma.


Edit: Just wanted to say how amused I am that the UFC's plans are crumbling. Robbing Rampage of a decision so that they could hand Golden Boy someone he could beat for the title was a nice plan until this little upset. Mwahahahaha!

[SpugFab]

Yeah Light Heavyweight seems to be the best division at the moment. I'm still not sure about Machida, it seems to me that some of his recent opponents have played into his hands a bit. Plodding forward and letting him stick them - you couldn't have found an opponent more tailor made for Machida than recent vintage Tito Ortiz.

In fact I think that's the main thing that Evans did so well at the weekend. It wasn't so much his awesome boxing ability, more he had his gameplan 100% correct. You don't see that much in the UFC.

I think wrestlers at the top of their weight category who actually fight smart is where the future of MMA lies. The rules favour grapplers.

I thought Forrest deserved the decision against Rampage...

[SpugFab]

Watching Henderson vs Palhares I was thinking that maybe 5x3 would be a better time limit for non-title bouts, instead of 3x5. It would give more flexibility in scoring.

[puppydog]

i think it was tough to call, but would have given it to Kim as well.

agreed.
round 1 and 3 Kim.
round 2 brown, altough you could try and argue it was 10-8.

the whole scoring system should change.
winning two close rounds and getting dominated in one isn't "winning" in my books.

not sure about 5x3minutes.

as for Chuck..... damn that hurt.

[JP]

good unaired fight now on ufc.com, Pellegrino vs Tavares, action packed stuff

[Marty]

I was just stunned by that right hand, couldnt believe it, I thought Rashads ony chance was for a decision based on his takedowns like in the Bisping fight.

Anyway no ones mentioned Franklin! I thought he looked awesome, great TD defence, clinical striking against a guy with freaky strength. I really hope Rich does well in LHW.

Wonder what chuck will do now, hope he doesnt retire...

Edit, did anyone see dans video blog, Bean Liddell! Cant see anyone laughing at chuck for having that dog tho hehe

[SpugFab]

good unaired fight now on ufc.com, Pellegrino vs Tavares, action packed stuff

Fake tap?