...is on the line when he fights Wand. The myth of Pride superiority has been shattered, but there's still questions when it comes to Liddell. Was his reign as champ an illusion due to fighting a bunch of wrestlers with limited striking ability? A win over Silva would restore quite a bit of his credibility, imo, regardless of the fact that Silva himself is coming off of two successive losses. But if Chuck loses, it'll be hard to argue with the guys who claim he's been overrated all this time.
I would have preferred to see this fight when both guys had their straps, but it's still a meaningful fight. I'm not happy w/everything Dana has done lately, but props for making this fight happen in spite of Chuck's loss to Jardine. I can't wait to see it.
I am kinda a Chuck nuthugger but I believe he had no chance at beating
Jardine no matter what. The fight meant nothing to Chuck's career or his
status to the maintstream norm. We've heard it before... "this game is
XX% mental" Chuck just wanting to fight for the sake of fighting gave
Jardine the edge. Jardine was much more hungry and focused coming
into that fight. With all that being said, Chuck will KO Silva in RD 1
"Was his reign as champ an illusion due to fighting a bunch of wrestlers with limited striking ability?"
Was Wanderlei's reign an illusion due to fighting a bunch of non title matches and little Japanese guys such as Tatsuya Iwasaki in his first and only MMA fight?
Say what you want about Chuck only fighting grapplers, but over the course of their careers, the overall level of Chucks competition has been higher than Wanderlei's.
Chuck didn't get to fight Sakuraba three (almost four) times, or Hiromitsu Kanehara or Shungo Oyama, or Minowaman, or Otsuka etc etc.
"The myth of Pride superiority has been shattered"
name a single top UFC fighter from 2 to 4 years ago at 185 or higher that has been proven to be better than the top Pride guy at that time. You can't. The only thing that has been proven is that Pride fighters at 185 and 205 were indeed better than UFC fighters and the heavies are yet to be tested. below that weight it seems the Pride fighters were overrated.
"Was Wanderlei's reign an illusion due to fighting a bunch of non title matches and little Japanese guys such as Tatsuya Iwasaki in his first and only MMA fight?
Say what you want about Chuck only fighting grapplers, but over the course of their careers, the overall level of Chucks competition has been higher than Wanderlei's.
Chuck didn't get to fight Sakuraba three (almost four) times, or Hiromitsu Kanehara or Shungo Oyama, or Minowaman, or Otsuka etc etc."
Liddel's overall competition is better than Wand's BUT dont act like Wand didnt brutalize twice the guy that beat up Chuck twice. Wand also went 1-1 with Arona in 2 close fights. Wand also beat Mezger at a time when Mezger was top 10 and beat Hendo as well. Lets not act like Wand did face top comp at all.