Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine to Headline UFC 76

Discussion in 'General MMA Discussion' started by Mitchell Kane, Jul 14, 2007.

  1. Mitchell Kane

    Mitchell Kane WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    UFCjunkie.com Exclusive: Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine to Headline UFC 76
    Posted by UFC Junkie on July 13, 2007 at 3:37 pm ET

    Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (20-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) and Keith Jardine (12-3-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) are expected to headline Anaheim’s UFC 76 event in September. A source close to one of the fighters told UFCjunkie.com (www.ufcjunkie.com) of a tentative agreement that was reached earlier today.

    Jardine will take the spot vacated by PRIDE standout Wanderlei Silva. Earlier this week, UFC president Dana White said that Silva turned down the UFC 76 fight with Liddell despite having a verbal agreement in place. UFCjunkie.com first broke the news of that agreement, but for reasons still unknown, Silva apparently opted not to take the fight.

    Instead, Liddell will face Jardine, a cast member from The Ultimate Fighter 2 who worked his way into title contention before suffering a shocking, 48-second upset to UFC newcomer Houston Alexander back in May. Prior to that UFC 71 loss, Jardine had posted a 4-1 record in the UFC — with his only loss coming via a controversial unanimous decision to Stephan Bonnar at UFC Fight Night 4.

    The loss to Alexander erased all the momentum the 31-year-old had gained after his dominating first-round TKO victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 66. It was the biggest win of Jardine’s career. But the Team Jackson fighter now has an opportunity for an even bigger one.

    Liddell, who had held the UFC’s light heavyweight title since April 2005, suffered a first-round technical knockout to Quinton Jackson at UFC 71. The May 26 loss was the 37-year-old’s first defeat in eight fights.

    The future UFC Hall of Famer’s upcoming fight with Jardine will be his seventh consecutive main-event fight.

    The fight with Jardine — “Plan B,†if you will — may be a letdown for many hardcore MMA fans. After all, the proposed Liddell-Silva bout had been one of the most-anticipated fights in the sport’s history. The UFC, and specifically White, had tried to arrange the matchup for years but experienced one snafu after another. During a UFC 61 event in July 2006, White event went as far as announcing the fight was going to happen — only to later blame the then-owners of PRIDE for keeping it from happening.

    Liddell and Jardine are expected to officially sign a deal for the fight soon.

    UFC 76 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Sept. 22. UFCjunkie.com has learned that a fight between 170-pound contenders Diego Sanchez and Jon Fitch (a fight UFCjunkie.com exclusively announced last weekend) likely will be billed as the night’s co-main event.

    For the latest UFC 76 fight card, check out the UFC Rumors section of UFCjunkie.com.

    115 Comments | Posted in Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine, Wanderlei Silva, UFC 76 |
     
  2. NeighborMike

    NeighborMike Senior Member

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    i smell a highlight real KO coming
     
  3. Hanzy

    Hanzy "Twinkle Toes" McJack

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    Crap fight. Jardine is rubbish, he just got brutally raped in his last fight badly, into near unconsciousness by Houston Alexander.
    Why don't they make a Chuck vs Houston Alexander instead? Since Houston is on a high.
     
  4. Beyond the Grave

    Beyond the Grave Undisputed Champion

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    Dana White wants everybody to forget the Ass Rappin Rampage gave his poster boy (Yes Chucks still the poster boy) so putting Houston Alexander in there would be tooooo risky,Dana wants Chuck too look dominant and as ignorant as SOME of Chucks fans are they'll eat it up and cheer saying he's back he's going to beat that black bastards ass in the rematch.:lol:
     
  5. Hanzy

    Hanzy "Twinkle Toes" McJack

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    It's the Tyson thing going on. The fans SIMPLY REFUSE to believe that their hero could get KTFO.
     
  6. ArturoGatti

    ArturoGatti WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    that has to be one of their worst main events ever.
     
  7. *Z*

    *Z* WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    Jardine is getting hurt in this one.
     
  8. Beyond the Grave

    Beyond the Grave Undisputed Champion

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    I've heard a rumor that they offered Brandon Vera a chance too fight Chuck Liddell.I seriously hope this comes true.
     
  9. *Z*

    *Z* WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    Vera is on the shelf right now due to legal issues with his manager or something. He won't be fighting for a while and he doesn't want to fight at LHW anyway. He says he is fighting at HW. Vera would probably beat Chuck. He's too well rounded for Chuck.
     
  10. Matchup_Analyzer

    Matchup_Analyzer Keyboard Warrior

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    I suppose since both Jardine and Liddell got blasted in the first minute of the first round of their last bouts, it should be good :rolleyes:
     
  11. TFK

    TFK WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    Obviously it makes good business sense for the UFC to get Chuck Liddell a win and get him back on track and looked at again as a main eventer in the eyes of the PPV buying audience.

    What better way to do that then by putting him against a fighter who is clearly not at his level, but is a name familiar to most mainstream UFC fans because of his time of TUF and his win over Forrest Griffin.

    On paper it's a terrible matchup skill wise, as Jardine shouldn't have much of a chance to win. But in MMA much more so then boxing, on any given day, any fighter can beat another. Jardine shouldn't win and most likely won't, but it's not entirely impossible that he can win.

    The same goes for the other main event, Rua vs Griffin. By all means, Shogun should beat Forrest easily, but an upset is not entirely out of the question. While this fight is another 'mismatch', it is also another win\win situation for the UFC.

    If Shogun wins, he beats a UFC fan favorite and that's a hell of a way to introduce him to UFC fans that don't know his past accomplishments, and makes him a main eventer in the eyes of the mainstream UFC fan. If Griffin wins, one of the UFC's most popular fighters gets a win over the fighter who is considered by many to be the top 205 LB fighter in the world, and puts in the upper echelon in the weight class, with a bunch of huge fights in the future.

    And, while on paper both fights appear to be mismatches, chances are very good that both fights will be wildly entertaining while they last, and could end with highlight reel KO's.

    Sanchez vs Fitch is an interesting matchup between two top 10 Welters, Tyson Griffin, who the UFC seems to like a lot, is fighting, and Jason Lambert, who is coming off a good win over Babalu is also fighting. Plus UFC veteran Evan Tanner is coming back as well.

    All in all, it should be a very fun night of fights and definitely worth the price of the PPV.

    Here's the entire card...

    TFK
     
  12. steve_dave

    steve_dave Hard As Fuck

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  13. ArturoGatti

    ArturoGatti WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    it's not a bad card "andrew", if it had a really good main event, it would be one of the better crads of the year (on paper).

    Say, if the Couture/Gonzaga title fight was the main event, then it would be deinitely worth ordering. As it is, it's a good card to go watch in a bar somewhere.
     
  14. steve_dave

    steve_dave Hard As Fuck

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    I'm laughing at TFK.
     
  15. TFK

    TFK WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    Why?

    TFK
     
  16. ArturoGatti

    ArturoGatti WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    Yeah, I figured you were laghing at him trying to hype up the card. I'm just saying that it's not that bad. Better than the N. Ireland show they had two months ago. :doh:
     
  17. Hanzy

    Hanzy "Twinkle Toes" McJack

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    It's a pretty sh*tty card overall. I care nothing about a main event between 2 guys who just got KTFO within 2 minutes of their most recent respective fights. This is 'bar' material, not 'ordering on ppv' material.
     
  18. ArturoGatti

    ArturoGatti WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

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    yeah, that's what I said.

    Fitch/Sanchez is a good fight.
     
  19. jarhead

    jarhead Undisputed Champion

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    I have a very close friend who is well known in MMA circles. He has fought before, but now he mainly just trains. He told me the fight didn't go off because Dana White was trying to low ball Silva. Silva got pissed and told him to fuck off and that's why the fight is off. Silva and Fedor (along with little bro) are talking to other organizations so Dana White isn't the only game in town, which is why his champion Sherk only makes 14,000 for a title fight.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2007

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