[DeanFilkins]

What happens to the legacy of either fighter if victorious in their scheduled superfight at UFC 85 later this year.

Many see Liddell as the best light heavweight in the short history of MMA (or Wanderlei) so would a win for the 'Iceman' solidfy this position with a win over the 2005 Pride GP Middleweight Champion? Would an emphatic win even establish Liddell as one of the top 4/5fighters in the history of MMA? ( I currently rank Fedor, Sakuraba, Couture and Nogueira as the best ever by the way, so with a win would he join that group?).

What about a loss for Liddell? Would this mean the end of his Hall of Fame career? Will there be an instant rematch, or perhaps 2nd fights with Jardine or Wanderlei?

I know it all depends on the type of win/loss i.e. whether it was emphatic, controversial, disputed, inconclusive etc, but what would a win or loss here for Liddell mean for his career and most importantly his legacy?

Thank you for your time, your thoughts please?

[hughesfan20]

If Liddell beats Shogun I'd say that puts him in any serious top 5 career LHW list permanently.

[Shogunator800]

It would probably make him currently ranked at #2 right under Rampage.

[Jlew3332]

He would be in the top 3 LHW for sure right now. And it might solidfy him as the best LHW ever as of right now. Obviously that could change with a lot of these young fighters at 205.

[JauntyAngle]

If he wins, I'd say his legacy is looking damn good.

Prior to the Silva fight he had this great run with a lot of knockouts, and a really good list of wins, so he was clearly one of the best. But there was always the question because when he had competed in PRIDE he got schooled by Rampage. Running up to the Rampage fight it was easy to ignore that and just look at the positives.

His defeat to Rampage and then subsequent defeat to Jardine then made that small question mark a big question mark.

The win against Silva was not only a win, but is also went to erase some of the doubt. The idea that he couldn't hack it against anyone who wasn't handpicked by the UFC/a wrestler/not from PRIDE was probably laid to rest. That big question mark went back to a much smaller question mark. Then it starts to look like Rampage has his number/is a bad style matchup, and Jardine... well, everyone is allowed to lose sometime.

If he follows it up by beating Shogun, that is going to be great for him. This is the guy who was considered #1LHW and one of the top 2-3 P4P guys, and who many people still think should have beaten Griffin (whatever that means). So in theory Shogun's stock is sky-high. If Liddell beats another top fighter, that will be yet more evidence he can beat more than UFC-picked wrestlers.

And of course... he would then have beaten the two fighters who were picked by most of this forum as the two guys who were better than him (Shogun and Silva).

Of course, the fight still has to happen, and who knows how it will turn out? (Not me, anyway.)

[kaya]

I still contend he is the GOAT @ 205.. followed by Silva.. then quite possibly Rampage at this point.

Sure, Rampage beat Chuck.. and I think he'd beat him again. But Rampage's career @ 205 vs Chucks.. I dunno.. I don't compare the two really. Chuck was making waves @ 205 before Rampage fought and beat a top 20 LHW

[Jebi Se]

Liddell is just like CroCop or Fedor....they already cemented their legacy imo.

[mw1cf]

IMO his resume is already good enough to have him considered as one of the top 5 205ers of all time. A win over Shogun and especially a win over Rampage and you have to consider Chuck the best LHW there is and put him in the conversation as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

[SFJ23]

I think if Chuck beats Shogun he gets a titile shot and will be ranked #2.

[Mykill]

I think if Chuck beats Shogun then I owe Chuck a huge opology. Chuck will be the real deal, however I think Shogun will beat him up and show the world that he indeed is the best in the world. Forrest was a fluke.