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Big Fight Breakdown: Liddell-Shogun


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Michael DiSanto, UFC - Few fighters arrived in the UFC amidst more hype and expectation than Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The Brazilian superstar was fresh off a 13-fight run in PRIDE Fighting Championships that saw him skyrocket to the top of virtually every 205-lb ranking by buzzsawing through some of the world's best 205-lb'ers en route to winning the 2005 Grand Prix.

 

 

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Its painfull obvious that if Either doesn't win this one, unless its a war like battle, loser gets thrown out.

 

Dana already said he doesn't want to see Chuck as a friend lose another fight in a row and if he does hes not letting him back. Also with the horrible critiscism about Shogun and Coleman a lot of people are thinking the that hes headed for a Shamrock esque retirement fight.

 

I personally wanna see Chuck pull through with a KO, I don't think hes at the end of his rope, he got caught with a angelic punch by Rashad, could knocked out Heath Herring with a hit like that, and its always been known that Chuck is not the best at not getting caught (See Rampage Vs Chuck 1 or 2) but with this said it should be a good fight and I'm going for chuck, though not putting money on this fight, its to much of a dark horse in my opinion.

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I think most fans realized that liddell was coming off prime after his second KO loss. There are certain fights where a loss doesn't damage one's career... but chuck crumpled when evans hit him and that's something that a lot of fans will remember. With that said, this isn't a make or break fight for liddell. He's likely still a top10 lhw in most peoples rankings.. not to mention he's a ufc legend and close friend of dana white.

 

The fight has a few variables that are huge x factors

 

1. shoguns conditioning: the guy gassed quick in both of his last fights. The excuse for the griffin fight was a knee injury and the excuse for the coleman fight was the long layoff. I think a long layoff is a very poor excuse for poor conditioning but who knows. If shogun comes in with a full gas tank then it'll be a war.. if not, liddell will put him away.

 

2. shogun pre and post pride: My personal theory involves the lax drug testing policies of pride but you can't deny that shogun has looked like a shadow of the fighter he used to be back in the OWGP. If you buy into the excuses then there's a chance that he could come back strong... in which case he may be a favourite in this fight. If he's the same guy from the forrest and coleman fight, then it might be a short night for shogun.

 

3. Liddell's chin: It would seem that once you take a few big shots, your chin is never the same. Before rampage I wouldn't have questioned liddell's chin... but since that fight he's been dropped at least once in every fight that he's been in, including the devastating KO from rashad.

 

4. Liddell's striking defense: Huge holes, big openings... shogun was/is a skilled striker and could very well exploit those openings if liddell hasn't tightened things up

 

I'm predicting a 2nd rd tko for liddell... but too many unknown variables for me to be sure

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