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When will Chuck Liddell move on?
** Warning: Long Read**
Chuck has completely dominated the UFC LHW division for the last 2 years. He has defended his title against every worthy contender at least once (And in a couple cases twice). Now Rampage is coming along and I'm sure he will give Chuck a run for his money and maybe pull off a 2nd win against Liddell. Although I would love to see Jackson beat Liddell again, I don't think Jackson has come along as far as a fighter as Liddell has since their last fight. Lets assume for just a second that they do fight again and Liddell wins. Then what for The Ice Man?
I swear I have heard this song before. Maybe that's because it reminds me so much of Roy Jones JR's career. Maybe Chuck should take a page out of Jones' book and move up to HW for a fight. Boxing, being a different sport than MMA and run completely differently than the UFC, may make it difficult for him to do unless he went straight for the belt. In other words, when Jones went up to HW to fight Ruiz, Ruiz wasn't the champ, far from it. In order for Liddell to move up to HW and fight anyone , champ or not, he would most likely need to abandon his LHW title. Maybe, maybe not. Do you think Dana White would allow Chuck the time to train for a HW fight, and possibly be out for 3-6 months after the fight for injuries. All this without defending the LHW title once? Probably not. It wouldn't be fair to people like Jardine, Evens, Griffin or to Dana's wallet considering it would be one, maybe 2 less title fights that he could put on PPV. I can't help but wonder what kind of $$ a fight could rake in where UFC poster boy Chuck Liddell, moves up in weight class simply because he had demolished the entire LHW division.
With rumor of Randy Couture coming out of retirement to fight Tim Sylvia, some may feel like it would be the perfect time for Chuck to move up. I however would have to disagree. IF and that is a capital IF, Randy was to defeat Tim Sylvia and didn't retire again right away, who really want's to see Liddell/Couture 4? Not me. That would be crappy PPV numbers for Zuffa. No matter how they spin it or hype it, the weight class thing wont be enough to make Couture/Liddell interesting.... AGAIN.
The way I see it, Rampage wants a couple wins in the UFC before a fight with Chuck anyway, so that is in the distance a bit. Rampage's 1st UFC fight will be on Feb 3rd and his 2nd will most likely be in April or some time around there, putting him in the cage with Chuck sometime around August/September. In the mean time Chuck could gain another win or 2 against Jardine or someone like that and maybe 1 other defense for 2007(Tito Rematch too boring?). In that time Tim can fight Randy and Cro Cop. Chuck could then abandon his LHW belt, Dana could organize a multi PPV tournament for the vacant LHW Title. Think about the Tournament: Ortiz, Rampage, Griffin, Jardine, Evans, Bonnar, Bisbing, Hamill, maybe Couture and whoever else has worked their way up between now and then. Opening round could be Dec 29, 2007, headlined by Liddell Vs. Cro Cop at HW. Biggest UFC PPV ever. Yes, I am probably dreaming, but DAMN... That would be pretty bad ass.
Last edited by Weirdbeard; 01-10-2007 at 02:55 PM.
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