According to the official iN DEMAND website, UFC 71 on Saturday, May 26 will feature a Light Heavyweight title main event rematch between champion Chuck Liddell and challenger Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The show is being dubbed [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]UFC[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] 71: Liddell vs. Jackson on the iN DEMAND website and has been rumored for a while on other MMA websites and message boards the past few weeks. http://www.mmanews.com/ufc/In-Demand-Website-Lists-Liddell-vs.-Rampage-For-UFC-71.html
Of course the UFC makes Rampage fight Chuck now. Considering Rampage said he felt a bit rusty in his first UFC appearance and stated that he wanted a couple more fights before going after Chuck. UFC smells weakness and a chance for their poster boy to avenge a defeat. Chuck will win. Rampage looked like crap in his last fight.
Rampage doesn't need tuneups. He just needs hard sparring. Dude's been fighting at the top level against all the best. He's only 28, he's got youth on his side and experience. He's beaten Liddell before relatively easily. Just as long as he fights his fight, he has a good chance. He's sprucing up his boxing with Jeremy Williams.
Chuck looked like sh*t to me against Ortiz II. Just so happens, Ortiz is a f*cking 1 demensional joke with no standup whatsoever. Chuck was just stalking him and trying to land his 1 punch, not a whole lot of substance from Chuck at all. Don't know how much of that is attributed to his conditioning or his injuries or his age. But when Rampage II happens, Chuck's gonna need every tool in the book AND be in the condition of his life. This is gonna be a very difficult fight for him.
I guess I'm not crazy because I thought the same thing and it was against a guy who throws punches like your everyday high school bully.
But like I said, I don't know how much of that was attributed to Liddell's conditioning, injuries(he had a slight tear in his knee they say), or his advancing age. Despite that, it doesn't take much for him to smack around that joker Tito Ortiz. A basic takedown defense and Ortiz is completely screwed. That's pretty much all Liddell needs to beat that clown.
Forrest almost beat tito by preventing that take down. Tito when he was a mw has decent standup it just regressed when he got up to lht.
I think it had to do with Chuck knowing that Tito had no chance. Tito isn't better than Chuck at anything. Not even wrestling. Chuck wanted the KO so he fought like it.
Tito's facing Rashad Evans next on July 7. Rashad is undefeated and coming off a very brutal KO kick over some scrub on Spike's UFN show.
That could of played a role I agree,but I just get tired of people saying how bad rampage looks in fights he actually wins,while Chuck seems to get a pass for looking bad against Tito.
...and Sobral was "new and improved", and we all know what happned there. Chuck is getting long in the tooth, and he indeed looked like shit against Ortiz. What worries me about Liddell the most though, is that interview that clearly showeed that Chuck is susceptable to drugs and or alcohol. If Chuck is on his game, he easily KOs Rampage. Liddell just has that kind of power, and he has a knack for landding his shots from weird angles. And his takedown defense is second to none. The night Jackson beat Chuck,..was the best Rampage Jackson ever. Since then he has had his brain scrambled too many times. Liddell KO2 Jackson