By Jim Terwoord
UFC 79 promised two memorable match ups but managed to deliver only one: Liddell vs. Silva. The two legendary light heavyweights locked up in their long awaited knock down - drag out Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Vegas to settle on the baddest dude – and that would be the Iceman.
Liddell, looking like the old Chuck we knew and loved, consistently flashed the speed and elusiveness that seemed to escape him in his last two efforts against Rampage Jackson and Keith Jardine. Round one started slowly with both men circling - and way too cautiously I thought. They did exchange season’s greetings in several brief flurries along the fence – but at the end of the round I made one note: “Are these guys gonna fight?” A second round war provided the answer.
The long armed Liddell came out for the second with fast hand guns blazing, cutting Silva badly near the eye. The Axe Murderer responded with some bloody payback of his own, opening a modest bleeder on Liddell and fattening his lip. Liddell easily won the round that featured a lot of toe to toe cage-side conking. A pattern, established in the first round, continued into the second -Wandi stalking - and Chuck sticking - in return. You couldn’t help but wonder if the Axe man had a plan. It turns out, probably not.
Round three found a now confident Lidell whacking Wandi with a spinning back fist that probably surprised, more than stunned, the Axe Murderer. It also featured two slick Liddell takedowns (he was a wrestler – remember?) and several furious exchanges that cemented the unanimous decision for the Iceman.
Unlike the gushing UFC “Mike and Joe” post fight show, I thought the fight was good – but it shoulda been better. What was Wandi really trying to do? Beats me – and to borrow an NFL phrase he appeared to be badly “out coached.” Yeah – I know he trains with a weight vest and snorkel and is in great shape – but there’s more to a fight than just conditioning. I mean every fight site post in the last three months predicted Chuck would do just what he did – yet Wandi didn’t seem to have a plan to deal with it. Where were the Muay Thai clinch and nasty knee strikes? He threw precisely one knee – almost as an afterthought! It was roughly the equivalent of having Babe Ruth at the plate with the bases loaded and telling him to bunt! One thing is a given in any sport – let your opponent do exactly what he wants and it’ll be a long night. And Liddell was only too happy to make sure of it.
Where was Wandi? What was the plan? I blame his coaches. There appear to be too many “cooks” focused on various MMA disciplines and conditioning. But who’s the boss – who cooked up this goofy game plan? Contrast this approach to the singular “Hackleman” approach of Liddell. No secrets there. Hackleman and Liddell had a plan and calmly stuck to it. The results speak for themselves – loudly.
Matt Hughes had a plan – but not a prayer – in his interim welterweight title match against Georges St. Pierre. In an almost instant replay of their last tangle, “Rush” completely dominated the older – and future Hall of Famer – Hughes. The UFC PR flacks told us that Hughes was going back to his ‘‘wrestling roots” for the rubber match between the two. But it was St. Pierre who dominated the mat – and everything else for that matter, in this return engagement, winning a verbal submission via armbar at 4:42 of the second round. If you were surprised by the Rushter’s grappling skills, you must have missed his last fight against Josh Koscheck who he dominated in similar fashion. This guy has sick fighting skills sports fans. After the fight Hughes said “Georges is just a better fighter than me.” Sums it up nicely – and probably includes everyone else in the welterweight division too, like Matt Serra. We’ll see.
In another bout reminiscent of Houston Alexander and Thiago Silva, the muscular, menacing “African Assassin,” Rameau Sokoudjou, was embarrassed by Lyoto Machida in a light heavy throw down. It was never close – with Machida, a much faster karate technician completely dominating Sokoudjou before gaining his back and choking him out at 4:22 of the second round. So much for the Assassin – but Machida remains undefeated.
Yarennoka: Fedor Fights Goliath
I got up early to see Fedor fight Goliath. Luckily the fight was late in the card after I got some coffee – because if I had yawned I’d have missed it.
Seeing the size difference in these guys was almost scary. Emelianenko was more than a foot shorter and 150 pounds lighter than Hong-Man Choi, his oversized Korean adversary. Choi’s take down defense was simple – he fell on Fedor’s chest. With Choi’s shaggy blond mane, the scene was vaguely reminiscent of a lion feeding on an antelope. Only Fedor didn’t feel like getting licked -and stayed calm. Attempting an armbar, he scrambled free of Choi and shot in for another takedown attempt. Fedor fell on him again – and again Fedor kept his cool. This time he sunk the armbar in deeper and threw all of his 235 pounds directly onto Choi’s elbow joint – forcing a tapout scant minutes into round one.
Let’s face it – nobody wants to see Fedor continue to fight the bum of the month. Randy Couture made it clear he’d like a piece of him – but will have to wait until at least October when his UFC contract expires. Until then, we’ll have to see if M-1 Global can find anyone who can challenge the Russian roughneck. Don’t hold your breath.
Happy New Year from GeorgiaMMA.com. |
