So here it is, my first time ever covering a Chuck Liddell fight while working for the website. Excited, of course, wary of Rashad Evans’ power, of course, hoping for a possible Forrest Griffin versus Chuck Liddell match up, who wouldn’t be?
The fights leading up to this match up were a bit disappointing in my opinion. Dong Hyun Kim, a fourth degree judo black belt went up against Matt Brown, a strong, conditioned fighter who has been showing great promise over his MMA career. However, when dealing with a Judo master as it were, these skills should be enough to throw any opponent around like a ragdoll. This, was embarassingly not the case. Instead, Kim climbed over Brown through out most of round one like a spider monkey. Suspending himself on Brown’s back almost finishing with some suspended rear naked chokes that never quite made it. This was enough for him to take the round though. In two, Brown puts a halt to most of Kim’s attempts at judo throws and grapples, and actually was the better when it came to the clench and firing off of knees. That round definitely went to Matt Brown. But the third round Brown came out looking cocky, to the point of arrogance, and I believe this is what bit him in the end. Through this confidence (if you want to call it that) Kim gets some good clench work in and a takedown that he’d been looking for since round one, although not looking like a fourth degree black belt by any means. After a second takedown by Kim he opens up Brown’s face with a sharp elbow that I’m sure will scar. By judges decision Kim was announced the winner. Then came the ever intelligible Joe Rogan. I’m not sure what fight he was watching, but his exact words to Matt Brown were, “…I thought you won the decision…” Thank you Joe.
The fight between Martin Kampmann and Nate Marquardt was a bit anticlimatic as well. Nate, who is known for his power and bull strength completely imposed his will on Kampmann. After Nate landed a high kick to the top of Kampmann’s head he was a like a shark smelling blood in the water. A fury of fists were unleashed as uppercut after hook after cross took its toll, and Kampmann could clearly not do anything but turtle under his arms. The fight was called, and Nate Marquardt was winner by TKO in the first round.
Another let-down fight of the night was between Dan Henderson and Rousimar Palhares. Palhares has one of the fastest jiu-jitsu games I’ve ever seen on the ground. What looks like a mad scramble for control ends up being an arm bar or triangle choke in Palhares’ favor. Dan Henderson was apparently well aware of this, and throughout the fight did a fantastic job of stuffing Palhares’ shoot attempts. In round three Rousimar seemed to be getting the picture and was actually looking better as a striker than Henderson at first. Palhares had many attempts when the fight actually did go to the ground to end it, but Henderson was able to worm his way out every time. It almost seemed that Rousimar would intentionally fall to the ground during a strike exchange just to have Henderson come to his level; a baiting technique if you will. This backfired in the final few seconds, while on the ground Palhares ate two huge punches from Henderson, clearly giving Dan the fight. Winner by decision, Dan Henderson.
The match up between Rich Franklin and Matt Hamill had a lot of promise leading up to it. Two great fighters in their respective areas, both great sportsmen, and nice guys all around. Franklin jumped up in weight classes to the 205 divison, which showed in his size and his speed. The match began with Franklin taking a note from Forrest Griffin it seemed, firing off leg kick after leg kick to Hamill to keep him from being able to move around too quickly. In fact, for the rest of the fight Franklin was the obvious dominant striker. Hamill, on the other hand, seemed to have a stuck game plan in mind and continuously tried to force it to work, to no avail. If Hamill would get an ankle or leg, he would hold onto it for dear life, often having to eat punches and kicks as a result. Hamill did manage to give Franklin one of the nastiest cuts I’ve seen in a while. An inch by inch and a half gash above his right eye that, even when applying the vasoline to keep it from bleeding, you could just tell was really hurting. Hamill also seemed to be desperately trying to land these lead uppercuts, a good move at the beginning of a fight but not so much when it becomes a staple of your strategy. In round three Franklin lands a huge shin kick to the stomach of Matt Hamill. If you’ve never had a kick to the liver/diaphragm area before, I don’t care how tough you are, you buckle. I felt for Hamill, I really did. And when he couldn’t get back up the fight was called. Winner by TKO, Rich Franklin.
And finally, the main event of the night. Chuck Liddell versus Rashad Evans was an interesting match up in the fact that in the interviews before the fight both fighters spoke with a lot of respect towards the other. Yes there was the occassional verbal jab, like Evans calling Chuck “Old,” and Liddell saying he was going to be the first guy to beat Evans in the ring. Expected. Also interesting is the way these two strikers move in the ring. Evans is very jumpy, moving around a lot with his body, shooting jabs and crosses from wherever his body happens to be. This is a great way of sneaking in shots. Liddell is like a tiger in a pen, stalking his opponent and just firing off straight, hard punches in a very rigid but powerful fashion. Liddel used this to success in round one. In round two, after Evans landed a few hits he started becoming more confident. This was the gamebreaker. A simultaneous punch from both fighters; a strong right uppercut coming from Liddell, and a huge overhand right from Evans that was just a split second faster. That’s all it takes to get caught though, as anyone who trains or fights can tell you. Liddell got rocked, and was out before his body even hit the ground. Herb Dean ran over and called the fight before Evans could even get over to land anymore hits. I’m sure my jaw wasn’t the only one on the floor, and many people were upset, but that is the nature of the sport, one I’m very impressed to see each time it happens. Winner by KO, Rashad Evans.
- Eric 
Wondering what is up with your prediction data? Read this!
