Just My Thoughts: Holy Smokes!
A rematch worth waiting for
Mike Sloan Mar 30, 2007
To be quite honest, I am somewhat surprised that Zuffa has arranged
the ballyhooed sequel to Chuck
Liddell (Pictures)-Quinton Jackson (Pictures) this early in Rampage's UFC
career. I figured that after so many fights that have been rushed
into the UFC Octagon over the years, the three wise men behind the
desks in the MMA Capital Building would have delayed this fight
until "Rampage" built up an Amtrak-sized bandwagon.
There are myriad reasons as to why this fight has been set up already, but to be honest it's a few years late in my opinion. Naturally, not many UFC fans knew who "that bad-ass dude with the chain" was before he tore apart Marvin Eastman (Pictures) at UFC 67 and it was a logical decision to build "Rampage" into an absolute sensation. So while I have been salivating for Liddell to try and redeem himself ever since PRIDE: Final Conflict 2003, I'm worried that Zuffa may have jumped to gun a bit too prematurely.
Nevertheless, here are my two cents as to why Liddell-Jackson has
been made so quickly after Jackson's entrance into the UFC.
Liddell is getting up there in age
Liddell relies on counterpunching and capitalizing on his opponents' mistakes. This takes reflexes and the ability to instantly pull the trigger. His vaunted, crippling power will never go away but his razor sharp reflexes will. And, unfortunately for his loyal fans, that aspect of his deadly arsenal will be the first to go. As his body and mind age, so will his ability to capitalize on the errs of his adversaries. Once he can't pull that trigger to unload his atomic missiles, the end is a short walk around the corner.
Whereas Couture's style doesn't precisely require panther-like reflexes in terms of taking out his opponents with strikes, his game is on the ground. He uses his strength and wrestling ability and when he has someone pinned, acute reflexes aren't the be all, end all of a ground-and-pound scuffle. For a stand-up striker, particularly a counter puncher, it is.
Chuck wanted this fight and this fight only
The oft-proposed super showdown between Liddell and former PRIDE middleweight emperor Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) is about as dead in the water as a wise guy wearing cement boots. Since Silva was clobbered in back-to-back bouts at the hands of Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and Dan Henderson (Pictures), a battle against Liddell just doesn't have that same oomph it did roughly six months ago.
The rest of the best at 205 reside in PRIDE and it doesn't seem like any will take center stage inside the UFC cage outside of the odd joint card.
There's Liddell sitting alone atop the crest and then all we see are sandstorms, tumbleweeds and longhorn skulls. There is also Paulie Shore's career somewhere in the midst of the swirling dirt and ticks, but that's for another time.
The only figure under contract to Zuffa who means anything to Liddell's throne is Jackson. Liddell has avenged every loss of his career save for "Rampage" and why would Liddell fight anybody else? It's a fight Chuck has coveted for years. It's a fight more seasoned MMA fans have yearned for and Rampage could always use another hefty paycheck. It makes too much sense so why not have it now?
Joe Fan will sell his kidney to watch Liddell fight
This is probably the most realistic theory: it's a Chuck Liddell (Pictures)-headlined pay-per-view event. UFC president Dana White knows that whenever Liddell fights, especially against a popular figure, he'll be able to sell pay-per-views and event tickets like a merchant selling a forest to a flock of dendrophiles.
Virtually every single Liddell fanatic on this planet knows that he was soundly beaten by Rampage and said fan demands a rematch. Others who don't know about that loss in the PRIDE ring love watching Liddell fight. Either way, it's a win-win situation that will inevitably rake in boatloads of cash and that, my readers, is the bottom line.
There are myriad reasons as to why this fight has been set up already, but to be honest it's a few years late in my opinion. Naturally, not many UFC fans knew who "that bad-ass dude with the chain" was before he tore apart Marvin Eastman (Pictures) at UFC 67 and it was a logical decision to build "Rampage" into an absolute sensation. So while I have been salivating for Liddell to try and redeem himself ever since PRIDE: Final Conflict 2003, I'm worried that Zuffa may have jumped to gun a bit too prematurely.
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Liddell is getting up there in age
This theory is not entirely plausible considering that the ancient
almost-needs-a-walker Randy
Couture (Pictures) recently leveled and embarrassed
the hulking Tim Sylvia
(Pictures) en route to capturing the
UFC's version of the heavyweight title, but it might be true. Chuck
is approaching 40 and let's be honest: his style of fighting isn't
exactly one that will transcend age like Couture's.
Liddell relies on counterpunching and capitalizing on his opponents' mistakes. This takes reflexes and the ability to instantly pull the trigger. His vaunted, crippling power will never go away but his razor sharp reflexes will. And, unfortunately for his loyal fans, that aspect of his deadly arsenal will be the first to go. As his body and mind age, so will his ability to capitalize on the errs of his adversaries. Once he can't pull that trigger to unload his atomic missiles, the end is a short walk around the corner.
Whereas Couture's style doesn't precisely require panther-like reflexes in terms of taking out his opponents with strikes, his game is on the ground. He uses his strength and wrestling ability and when he has someone pinned, acute reflexes aren't the be all, end all of a ground-and-pound scuffle. For a stand-up striker, particularly a counter puncher, it is.
Chuck wanted this fight and this fight only
The oft-proposed super showdown between Liddell and former PRIDE middleweight emperor Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) is about as dead in the water as a wise guy wearing cement boots. Since Silva was clobbered in back-to-back bouts at the hands of Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and Dan Henderson (Pictures), a battle against Liddell just doesn't have that same oomph it did roughly six months ago.
The rest of the best at 205 reside in PRIDE and it doesn't seem like any will take center stage inside the UFC cage outside of the odd joint card.
There's Liddell sitting alone atop the crest and then all we see are sandstorms, tumbleweeds and longhorn skulls. There is also Paulie Shore's career somewhere in the midst of the swirling dirt and ticks, but that's for another time.
The only figure under contract to Zuffa who means anything to Liddell's throne is Jackson. Liddell has avenged every loss of his career save for "Rampage" and why would Liddell fight anybody else? It's a fight Chuck has coveted for years. It's a fight more seasoned MMA fans have yearned for and Rampage could always use another hefty paycheck. It makes too much sense so why not have it now?
Joe Fan will sell his kidney to watch Liddell fight
This is probably the most realistic theory: it's a Chuck Liddell (Pictures)-headlined pay-per-view event. UFC president Dana White knows that whenever Liddell fights, especially against a popular figure, he'll be able to sell pay-per-views and event tickets like a merchant selling a forest to a flock of dendrophiles.
Virtually every single Liddell fanatic on this planet knows that he was soundly beaten by Rampage and said fan demands a rematch. Others who don't know about that loss in the PRIDE ring love watching Liddell fight. Either way, it's a win-win situation that will inevitably rake in boatloads of cash and that, my readers, is the bottom line.
