Looking Ahead to UFC 71: Can Chuck Liddell Retain His Title?
Writing by admin on Thursday, 10 of May , 2007 at 1:31 pm
You know an MMA show is going to be huge when they don’t even need a dumb slogan for it.
The next UFC pay-per-view (No. 71 in the ongoing series) is simply called “Liddell vs. Jackson.” Chuck Liddell is defending his light heavyweight title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, the last fighter to defeat Liddell. You don’t need any other selling point.
It’s been nearly four years since Jackson earned a TKO victory over Liddell at the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix tournament in Tokyo. What we see on May 26 during the rematch at the MGM Grand will almost certainly be different. Liddell made the mistake of getting into a boxing match with Jackson, a powerful mauler who took Liddell down in the second round and started raining down punches, uninterrupted, until his corner threw in the towel.
Fighting in the octagon will at least keep Liddell from getting hung up in the ropes like he did in the PRIDE ring. But the much bigger story here is the development of Liddell into one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport. He carries a seven-match winning streak into UFC 71, including two victories apiece over Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz. Jackson is 7-3 during the same span, losing twice to Wanderlei Silva and once to Shogun Rua.
Liddell is the big favorite in this match, and although we’ve seen some interesting upsets recently, Gabriel Gonzaga’s win at UFC 70 over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is being spun as an indication of the talent level between UFC and PRIDE. The latter used to be the darling of discerning MMA fans. Even if there is still a bias toward the memory of PRIDE, Liddell will not be saddled by any extra chalk as a result. Liddell, a value pick? I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. But he should still be the champion when all is said and done.
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