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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 March 5, 2010, at 3:27 pm Speaking of things that don’t make sense, It appears that a battle between Matt Serra and Mike Swick is being lined up according to Figure Four Online:
Dana White confirmed today that UFC is running a show on April 17th, head-to-head with the announced Strikeforce show on CBS. The event would air most likely on Spike TV. The Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama match is not the main event. The only thing confirmed is they are trying to finalize a Matt Serra vs. Mike Swick [co-main] semifinal fight today.
There had been talk of a possibility that if UFC scheduled a show on that date, CBS may move the Strikeforce show to April 24th, which would go head-to-head with the WEC PPV in Sacramento.
Even though the April 17th show was not announced yesterday, the issue of the Observer that came out yesterday has a lead story analyzing the whys of this head-to-head battle.
Let’s look at the tactics being used here by the UFC. They are counter-programming a Strikeforce card that is on national television, which they could not do when Fedor stepped into the cage on American soil for the first time. That was the height of the injury-plague that the UFC suffered in late 2009.
As for this fight, I don’t particularly get it. Swick is coming off two consecutive losses and needs a win badly. Serra is coming off a quick knockout of Frank Trigg, but is late in his career and not really in much of a position to fight for titles. Why do they need to fight?
The crazy thing is this simply isn’t an easy win for Swick. While Swick’s striking is crisper and faster, it doesn’t have the same kind of knockout power that Serra posseses. On the ground, Serra should have a leg-up with his BJJ black belt from Renzo Gracie. However, the long limbs of Mike Swick might cause problems for Serra, who is just 5′6.
Swick should have gotten someone he could have beaten and got back on track, not a fight that is almost a toss-up.
Update (3/5): Swick told the world on his twitter that there was no truth to this rumor.
Not fighting Serra guys. Most likely having surgery soon. @oxphos Any truth to Serra fight 4/17? Seems unlikely unless ur arm is better
So much for that one.
By Anthony De Franco February 24, 2010, at 7:56 pm Looks like Rampage is looking to end his MMA career sooner rather than later. He recently sat down with Fighters Only Magazine in the UK, and said some interesting things:
“I like MMA a lot less than I used to,” Jackson said.
“They’ve said some things and done some things I don’t agree with — that’s not the way I do business,” Jackson said. “I’m a loyal person so I take care of people who take care of me, but people who don’t take care of me, I don’t take care of them. So I’m done with the UFC. They can’t ask me for anymore favors. Nothing. I just want to finish my contract and get out of there, do my own thing. Dana lied to me. He told me I didn’t have to fight Rashad, I could fight Machida. I did the show and then after that he told me I had to fight Rashad.”
Why do I feel like a lot of this isn’t true? Am I the only one who ahs a hard time believing anything Jackson says at this point? For all the complaining that he is doing, it seems that he is forgetting that Dana was the one that bailed him out of jail after he went insane a couple of years ago.
In all honesty, I think Rampage is becoming a bit of an afterthought anyway. If he loses to Rashad, He might be in danger of disappearing completely.
By Anthony De Franco February 20, 2010, at 2:51 pm You know what’s scary about Wanderlei Silva? Everything. More speficially, check out the way he smiles the whole time that he is talking about Michael Bisping. This is the exact open you’ll see at 10pm tonight.
I’m still shocked that the nicest guy in the sport earned the nickname The Axe Murderer.
By Anthony De Franco February 13, 2010, at 3:54 pm It’s the best striker in MMA versus the best grappler in MMA. Anderson Silva will step into the cage with Vitor Belfort in Abu Dhabi, replacing the injured Vitor Belfort.
From the horse’s mouth at UFC.com:
“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”
The difference? Maia’s standup remains well below average and Anderson Silva’s ground game is still above average. Silva will and should be a huge favorite in this fight, as Maia has much less of a chance of defeating Silva than Belfort did.
This does raise other questions about the middleweight division though. Will Vitor Belfort receive a title shot upon getting healthy or will he have to re-earn number one contender status. If he faces Chael Sonnen, there is no guarantee that he’d win. Most of Vitor’s losses are to guys who were able to put him on his back.
By Anthony De Franco February 11, 2010, at 4:34 pm We routinely pimp Ring of Combat here on the site. It’s the northeast’s best MMA promotions and has sent a number of fighters to the UFC. The names include Tamdan McCrory, John Howard, Dan Miller and Frankie Edgar.
Perhaps their best current prospect is heavyweight Gian Villante. Villante is Long Island born and bred and currently trains at Bellmore Kickboxing Academy. He was a star linebacker in FCS football at Hofstra in Garden City, NY. Since moving to MMA, he is 5-0 and is simply smashing fools. Dana and the UFC, are you listening!?
Listen to the JBS with Gian here. You’ll be glad you did when Gian upsets Kimbo Slice.
Don’t laugh, It could happen. If you want to check out some of Gian’s fights for free, click here.
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