So I guess it was "suppose" to be Chuck fighting Dan Henderson after beating Rampage; a unification of the belts and proving UFC was better than PRIDE with Chuck coming out the winner over Dan. Chuck holding all three belts would have been the best for the UFC, a clear Checkmate to Pride.
Well, all that shit is out the window now. Rampage has the chance to unify the belts, and so does Dan, both representatives of the former PRIDE. Who comes out the winner? I like Dan's scrappy style of fighting, always have. But I think Rampage's drunken monkey style of cover-up fighting will prevail. He is also one of those fighters that is just hard to knock out. What say you?
I know he started at the UFC prior to Pride, but he is clearly a fighter with Pride credentials. Maybe representative is the wrong word to use since there is only the UFC now.
But if the powers that be totally wanted to end the Pride name, why would they even let Dan display the belts? I think it was the hope to have Chuck unify the belts, and have it be the symbolic end of Pride.
Rampage unifying the belts would be crazy. I heard he wasn't training too hard prior to his fight with Chuck, not until the last few weeks. He better be training like a mad man now, people will be gunning for that belt.
Pride vs UFC would have been a great seller, if it was Wandy/Chuck to unify the belts but not now. Too many casual fans still aren't aware of Pride and the silence that greeted Hendo's cage entrance said it all.
It's going to be hard to build Hendo/Rampage to anything like the level of a Chuck/Silva title fight. As for Hendo, I hoped he would be next but just to get him out of the way.
At his best Dan is very good but he blows hot and cold. I don't see him having the tools to beat Rampage and after watching all of Hendo's Pride fights, I don't even know if he could outwrestle Rampage in an MMA environment.
The quicker Hendo's out of the way and back to MW, the quicker we get Shogun into the mix.
i'm a big machida fan but have no idea what kind of chin he has. i've seen four of his fights and have never seen him take much punishment, shich could be becuase he's just a stud or he hasn't faced very elite fighters. i know he beat franklin pretty easily, and he was fat when he fought penn.