UFC

As the May 23rd date draws near the manifestation of the Chuck Liddell and Quinton Jackson sequel starts to sink in for many fans. Despite beating the Iceman the first time, Rampage Jackson is deemed the underdog as he enters the UFC cage for the second time. Will we see a continuation of the “upset” trend that has been happening?


What Goes Around Comes Around

Although the idea of “home field advantage” plays psychological roles for certain sports, the idea hasn’t necessarily caught on in the fight world. In a fight, anything can happen, and such “advantages” seem null to all other outstanding variables in MMA. However, in this sequel, we shall see Chuck fight in the cage as he has done for the majority of his career, whereas Quinton shakes off the ring format and enters an arena that he might still be deemed green under.

Such dynamics could have been foreseen in their first encounter for Chuck, without discrediting Jackson’s ability too much, seemed like a fish out of water when it came to a ring format. Things like pressing up against a cage, grabbing a cage, getting stuck by the cage, and so forth all create different fight situations in comparison to a ring. Therefore, the fight, regardless of how accomplished both fighters are, seem to significantly lean on the champions side. Yet, the same could be said about Chuck in Pride. Oh well, what goes around…you know the rest.


This Is Why I’m Hot

It is true that all streaks come to an end. However, when you’re hot, you’re hot. Normally, when fighters work their way up to meet the champion, it can usually be assessed whether a new champion will be crowned. When GSP was to face Hughes for the second time, there wasn’t much argument that GSP had a high chance of being triumphant. GSP looked consistently strong working his way to a championship fight against Matt Hughes (except for the one bout against BJ Penn where he slid by a hair).

Quinton Jackson on the other hand hasn’t been as solid, nor has he been given the ample opportunity to work up such confidence to legitimately vie for the title. In his last two high profile fights in Pride, he was decimated by former champ Wanderlei Silva and 2005 Grand Prix Champion Shogun Rua, and in his last three outings, on paper, he was supposed to blow two out of the water while against Matt Lindland he sported a natural weight advantage.

Chuck, on the other hand, has KO’d Randy Couture (twice), TKO’d the dangerous Renato Sobral and Tito Ortiz, and made Jeremy Horn say, “I quit”. The Iceman is simply on a tear and if he is able to consistently stick to his game plan he will give Rampage some serious “freezer burn”.


- Bardia Mehrabian BuddyTV Staff Columnist