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By Anthony De Franco  March 13, 2010, at 12:45 pm  Is the Iceman coming back sooner than we thought?
According to Fighters only, his return may be roughly a month away. Chuck would forgo his UFC 115 fight with Tito Ortiz to take on former middleweight champion Rich Franklin on April 15th. This, of course, is the same day that Strikeforce will be on CBS, with the main event being Dan Henderson v. Jake Shields.
Chuck Liddell will be fighting Rich Franklin in his next bout and not rival TUF 11 coach Tito Ortiz, Fighters Only has heard from a reliable source. The switch was initially reported to us just under two weeks ago but was only a rumour at that time.
However, the rumour hit message boards late last night and an industry source confirmed that Liddell will indeed be facing former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The fight is to headline an April 17th Fight Night event which will counter Strikeforce’s show on the same date.
Bloody Elbow (which is just an awesome site) is quick to point out that Fighters only is credentialed by the UFC, which means that this claim probably has some legitimacy to it.
Let’s look at what this does for the UFC. First off, they will lose the UFC 115 main event between Ortiz and Liddell. This fight had a chance to be a big PPV moneymaker, so there are some who will question Zuffa’s logic. Instead, they will put the Iceman on free cable, and some that he draws some eyes over from CBS.
Inside the cage, this should be an interesting fight, and it’s a win-win for Dana White. If Liddell loses, he will likely retire, which Dana publicly said that he would like Chuck to. That would mean that Franklin is back on the map in the light heavyweight division with a win over someone who, at the very least, is still a name.
If Liddell wins, then Chuck will likely be given another fight, and that one would not be free. Even if Liddell isn’t a championship caliber fighter anymore, he is still a name that can make money.
It’s also an interesting test of Liddell’s drawing power. Can Chuck still draw like The Iceman could a couple of years ago or are people going to think of him like they do LaDanian Tomlinson nowadays and react with general apathy?
If this fight goes off, there are a lot of interesting dynamics involved
[Update: (1:37 PM) Okay, maybe not. MMA Junkie is now reporting that Liddell and Franklin will take place as the main event of UFC 115, not on a new card scheduled for April. They also are reporting some other strange news...]
By Anthony De Franco January 26, 2010, at 4:32 pm Wow. Always trust Tito to stir the pot a little during a boring week. From Bloody Elbow:
“I think [Liddell] had a problem,” Ortiz said. “A lot of people go through addiction. I think his deal was he was an alcoholic. He loved to party.” “He’s been sober since November, and he looks like a different person. It’s awesome. I’m proud of him – really proud of him.”
Back handed compliment much?
We all know that Liddell really liked to party. There are always pictures of him in clubs and stuff like that, but to call him an alcoholic without him ever admitting to it is just not something that you do.
Of course, Ortiz loves to talk about stuff like this in order to garner attention for himself, so no one should really be surprised.
Liddell and Ortiz will fight after they coach season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter.
By Jason Comack January 6, 2010, at 3:42 pm At 6-0 I was drinking the Josh McDaniels kool aid.
Of course 10 weeks in the NFL can often feel like an eternity and boy has a lot changed in 10 weeks.
Like everyone else who owns a sports website I couldn’t comprehend any of the Broncos off-season moves. They fired Shanahan abruptly, owing him 14 million, to hire a blue eyed baby face coach to turn things around. Three years ago no one questions this move. Three years ago Charlie Weiss isn’t a pariah in South Bend, Eric Mangini is still the “Man-genius” and Romeo Crennel hasn’t failed so famously McDaniels was suppose to be different. After all he was the guy that developed Brady was the selling point, that was suppose to set Josh apart. So what happens? McDaniels arrives on the scene, cleans out the coaching staff, feuds with his star QB and diva WR. McDaniels put the pressure on himself. Then 6-0 happened. The Patriot game happened. The Marshall hug happened. Denver had found their new Golden Boy. I went on 4th Down and compared Josh McDaniels to Bill Walsh (gulp.).
So what went wrong?
Simply put McDaniels made every mistake that his predecessors made;
- Step 1: Alienate Players. Marshall, Scheffler and Cutler. Shaun Rogers, Cribbs, Edwards.
- Step 2: Arrogance With The Media. Check.
- Step 3: A questionable draft track record. Moreno, Smith, Ayers, Quinn. Clemens, Gholston, Schlegel.
- Step 4: Bring In Your guys. Gaffney, Leach. Barton, Coleman, Elam.
Ultimately Step 3 and 4 lead to the Broncos decline. McDaniels inherited a roster with star pieces and little depth and did his best to entirely turn it over. Only problem is he got absolutely no production from any of his draft picks and immediately cut back the playing time of the established starters. He choose “his guys” over guys that were better players. Why do you think Eddie Royal, coming of a 90 catch season, didn’t play. Why do you think Moreno, who struggled mightily played while Peyton Hillis never even got a look. Scheme and talent can make up for a lot in this league but your players have to buy in. Clearly there was a rift between the Shannahan hold overs and the McDaniels faithful. There’s no other explanation for a team failing to show up against two awful teams when it mattered the most.
Magini had the same problems in NY. He played his guys, his scheme, feuded with Farve and it got him fired. He started his Cleavland stint the same way. He exiled Rogers on Day 1, Jamal Lewis decided to retire, James Davis got hurt in “non contact practice injury” and players complained to the union about long bus rides. He painted over a mural of Jim Brown. It seemed he had learned nothing. He brought in his guys even though they failed him in NY. Then something changed. The last 4 games of the season the Browns didn’t roll over and die. They fought to save Mangini’s job and it culminated in a win streak and a Gatorade bath for the much maligned coach.
This is exactly why Cleveland hired Mangini. Remember this is the same franchise that let Belichick get away. Remember the circumstances of his firing? He exiled Kosar tried to install his guys and his system and the fans and media turned on him. It wasn’t his X’s and O’s that got him canned. He went to New England learned the error of his ways and of course the rest is history.
McDaniels undoing will never be about football knowledge it’ll be in the way they handle their football knowledge. McDaneils will know more about football then I can learn in three lifetimes but that skill alone can only take you so far.
By Anthony De Franco January 6, 2010, at 1:19 am Everyone in the world knows that former TUF contestant Junie Browning is out of his mind. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make fun of him for it! Hell, take a look at Junie poking fun at himself at The World MMA Awards.
Good to know that Junie can take a joke.
By Anthony De Franco December 28, 2009, at 1:42 pm The smartest decision that Rashad Evans ever made was not taking a fight. Instead, he chose to coach on The Ultimate Fighter 10 as a way to bounce back from being knocked out by reigning UFC lightweight champion Lyoto Machida. He came off as the smarter, better coach, as well as the all around better guy compared to Rampage Jackson. The two were supposed to fight, but instead, Rampage chose to do the A-Team movie, and Rashad is stuck fighting Thiago Silva.
At least he’s got a cool walkout shirt:
Another shirt centered around money. His last one had a huge picture of Ben Franklin on it. I’m just saying, maybe Rashad is trying to tell us something.
MMA Warehouse has it for 39.99.
For more UFC 108 gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
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