What the hell happened? This fight shouldn't be happening. I think we'd all rather see Silva take on Ortiz.
It wasn't too long ago (over 1 year in the MMA world), that I remember Keith underestimating an incredibly eager Houston Alexander and getting beat soundly in the first round. I'll never forget that lopsided fight, and if you look at the careers of both men since that fight, it seems that Jardine learned from that mistake, and Houston, well let's just say it all ended for him in about 8 seconds. Well that's not enough for me to believe in Jardine. He beat Chuck Liddell. So what? Chuck Liddell is not invincible. A great opportunist with knockout power, yes, but not invincible.
Now you Jardine fans might say, "What about Forrest Griffin?". Ok, well let's look at that fight. I strongly remember Griffin crying his eyes out after that fight. Forrest has lost before, and never showed that much emotion afterwards. Do you honestly think that he was in the proper state of mind before that fight?
Now let's do the "Silva mathematics". Silva is the only fighter to have beat "Rampage" Jackson twice. Jackson has never avenged those losses. Silva has beat Dan Henderson. Now, to be fair, Silva has been on a losing streak recently, but let's look at those losses. 1st was Cro-cop. How many times have you seen fighters lost or almost lose (Fedor) to Cro-cop, because of a well timed strike? We all know Filipovic has the ability to beat anyone if they're not careful in their defences, which is exactly what happened to Silva when they fought. Second is Dan Henderson. To those of you who have followed Dan Henderson's career, you'll know that Dan's fight record lately hasn't really shown his ability, as he's fought two incredibly strong fighters (Jackson and Anderson Silva). And 3rd is Liddell. Well we all saw that. Silva seemed to be holding back for the entire fight.
Keith Jardine may be a strong fighter, (he reminds me of Chuck Liddell, with a little more power, but less in-ring intelligence, hence the reason why their last fight was so close.) but I personally don't think he has the smarts to beat Silva. Liddell beat Silva because he took his time and chose his shots. Keith Jardine won't take his time, and Silva will make him pay for every mistake. Believe me, Silva learned from his mistakes with Liddell, and I think we'll see the "real" Axe Murderer this time around.
To put it all in perspective, if Silva is hoping to continue having a successful career in MMA, he'll have learned from is recent mistakes and won't lose to Keith Jardine. If Jardine wins, well I'll eat my words, and bow down to his ability (maybe).
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2 months ago
I actually think if there wasnt a blood fued between dana white and tito that silva and tito part two would have been the co headline on this card. I think with tito leaving and a high possibility of him beating wanderlei again they opted against it and put him in with someone they expect will beat him instead. i think they want wanderlei to get a big win asap so they can put him in with Rampage for a part three.
2 months ago
I disagree with just about everything you say in this article. I'd really rather not go into detail on every point right now. I'll just say this: you didn't even spell Chuck's name right a single time. Sorry but this article was not for me.
from 2 months ago
Ok, it's your choice to agree or not, but don't misinform people about the spelling of Chuck Liddell's name. C-H-U-C-K L-I-D-D-E-L-L. Shows how much you know about MMA. And don't waste your time telling me you are an MMA fighter, because I won't believe it for a second. :)
2 months ago
Mike, What Robert was trying to say was in your first draft of your story you didn't spell Liddell's name correctly. Next time maybe have a second read through before your finished. There is no need to Flame each other, it's a learning curve.
The thing about Silva vs. Tito is the fact that Tito will be gone after the fight. If Tito beats Wandy then rolls to another promotion it does nothing for the UFC. With Tito fighting Tito it's a better chance for Tito to walk away with a loss, and bolstering Machida at #1 contender.
2 months ago
Meant Lyoto fighting Tito, not Tito fighting himself. I should also read my stuff a second time it seems.
2 months ago
Lol, I spelled it right the entire time. Regardless, you make a good point if you're looking at MMA as a business, but, I'm only thinking about what fans would want to see. I realize that what the fan wants though is not always what we're gonna get. If that were the case, Couture vs. Fedor would have happened a couple years ago, lol.
from 2 months ago
I edited your article to fix the spelling mistake. Hello? And the fans shouldn't want to say Tito vs Silva. What an awful fight stylistically. Yes, let us watch Tito lay on Silva for 3 rounds (or perhaps TKO before it's over). Sounds fun. Jardine vs Silva is a much more exciting match up stylistically, as is Machida vs Ortiz.
2 months ago
Until Rampage came to the UFC and Beat Chuck, everyone talked like Chuck Liddell WAS invinceable. Then everyone talked about Jardine not even being in Liddell's league. Boy, how quickly fans forget. Loddell had all the time in the world to put Silva down and just could not do it. Next time Silva will do the job. Jardine is up and coming after the big boys, one at a time.
from 2 months ago
only the fans that watched ufc only thought chuck was invincible Dorothy. Real MMA fans who had saw him get curb stomped by Rampage in Pride knew he wasnt invincible. Goes to show the power of the UFC, as I watched that fight at Hooters packed full of guys who bet me every dollar they had on chuck to win, and I cleaned house that night. The UFC has built up certain guys that way, as I remember they did Tito the same way before Chuck, until they had chuck replace him. Trust me Dana White is no idiot, he knew Chuck would beat Tito when they fought and he knew Rampage would beat Chuck again when they fought the second time. For him it was about the timing, setting things up just right so its a win/win for the UFC. Case in point, the winner of Jardine/Silva will almost be guaranteed to be the #1 contender to the winner of Rampage/Griffin.
2 months ago
No one thought he was 'invincible', but many people thought he was the #1 Light Heavyweight in the world, and for good reason. Winning 7 straight UFC bouts by TKO/KO is completely unheard of and a very impressive accomplishment. BTW, Dana White isn't the UFC Matchmaker, Joe Silva is. Chuck and Rampage are very easily matched, all that happened in their last fight was Chuck making a mistake and getting caught on the chin. That's how MMA is. Anyone can end it at anytime. To say Dana White 'knew what would happen' sounds like an absurd conspicary theory to me. The first fight in Pride was very dominant in favor of Rampage, yes, but Liddell had avenged all his previous losses, and there was good reason to expect him to avenge his loss to Rampage that night. In his first fight against Randy he got dominated just as much, yet he came back and KO'd him the next two times they fought.
I wrote an article concerning Light Heavyweight matches about a week ago: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/22443-UFC-Matchmaker-The-Light-Heavyweights-100508
from 2 months ago
I know who the UFC matchmaker is robert, and I didnt say dana white was the matchmaker in my comment. and there is no conspiracy theory involved in Dana white having a good idea who will win certain fights. tito and chuck had trained together for years and chuck had mostly got the best of tito in training, hence dana white knowing chuck would most likely beat tito.
dana white was on commentary when chuck got pounded by rampage in pride, and rampage was pretty raw then. he got much better and chuck got older in the interim. hence dana had a good idea that rampage would win in the rematch.
so its not an "absurd conspiracy theory" but actually my superior mma knowledge since your still insinuating that you think chuck matches up well with rampage.
let me break it down for you, rampage is a stonger wrestler, with faster hands, and hes much younger than chuck, and he has a tigher defense. they have a similar style, but chuck throws wider, looping punches and is a counter puncher mostly.
2 months ago
Wish Robert and Bryan had been with me on another site when I was trying to make the point about Chuck's first match with Rampage in Pride. The guy just would not let me have it that Rampage totally dominated Chuck--it was sooooooooo frustrating. And I thought the deal of Dana allowing Chuck to have the opportunity to beat everyone who had ever beaten him WAS the gimmick--not setting Chuck up to be beaten by Rampage. Mr White certainly has NOT treated Rampage equally to his golden boy Liddell. I think Rampage's victory shocked Dana as much as it did Chuck. And I hope his reign lasts much longer, as he has a great personallity and seems like a very humble guy.
2 months ago
I don't know why you had to go 'superior mma knowledge' on me, but, if you must. Anyways, Rampage was a better wrestler in their first match, but overall, I think Chuck's wrestling is close enough to equal with Rampage that that doesn't make a huge difference. Everything that you said when you 'broke it down' is stuff I know, but that doesn't mean Chuck can't catch him with a heavy hand or kick and win the fight. It's perfectly plausible that could happen, actually.
Even assume your right that Dana set up Rampage to win -- why would he do that? Chuck is the most popular mma fighter in America, and his popularity was really exploding last summer (for instance, he was on the 'who's now' polling competition on sportscenter) and if he would have won that fight over Rampage it would have started drawing massive attention to his fights like never before.
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