September 24th, 2007
You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor written on September 24th, 2007.
In the opening seconds of the UFC 76: “Knockout” pay-per-view (PPV) telecast ringside announcer Mike Goldberg confirmed that Chuck Liddell would face Wanderlei Silva on December 29 with a win over Keith Jardine in the main event.
“Iceman” went on to drop a split-decision to the “Dean of Mean,” dashing the monster showdown for which fans have clamored for years once again.
UFC President Dana White seemed resigned to the fact that the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history just one year ago was perhaps “never meant to happen, according to FOXSports.com.
Here’s a snip from White:
“‘It’s just not meant to happen,’ said White, who talked about a conversation with Silva as the fight was going on, and telling Silva that he thought Jardine was going to win the fight. He noted Silva was in complete denial, seeing huge dollar signs fly out the window.”
That’s not even the half of it. In fact, there is an article on Yahoo!Sports.com that mentions Liddell is contemplating hanging up the gloves after his second consecutive loss — the first time that has happened in the illustrious career of the 37-year-old.
Here’s a snip from White in that article:
“There’s a hunger thing that you have to have to be an elite fighter and I just didn’t see a Chuck Liddell who was as hungry as he used to be. Chuck has made a lot of money in this business and he’s done a lot of things, but he wasn’t the Chuck of old…. He needs to do what’s right for him and not worry about us. This isn’t the kind of sport you can be in half-heartedly. If you don’t have the passion for it, it’s time to get out. Only Chuck really knows how he feels, but you wonder because he hasn’t looked the same, fire-wise, in either of these last two fights.”
Agreed.
All the retirement talk, however, seems to be a bit premature — we’re talking about a conversation in a locker room immediately following another disappointing loss. Put simply, this is a major life decision that is perhaps not best determined under the circumstances.
In addition, there is no question that Liddell-Silva is going to sell crazy tickets and monster PPV’s. It’s probably no longer a headliner, but it will still help fill the till to the brim.
And let’s not forget: Silva is also on a two-fight losing skid. He, too, is not getting any younger, either.
Finally, is there another fighter on this planet who Liddell would “get up” more for than “The Axe Murderer?” I don’t think so. Provided Liddell decides to not retire, then the clash with Silva makes sense .. and cents.
December 29 is now or never.
Written by admin on September 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Wanderlei Silva and UFC Light Heavyweight Division and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Chuck Liddell and MMA.
I am proud to announce that Adam Morgan of 411Mania.com and Sprawl-N-Brawl.com has agreed to join FiveOuncesOfPain.com as a regular contributor.
The addition of Adam signals the beginning in a major shift in the philosophy of this blog. Up until this point, 5 Oz. has been pretty much a one-man band.
But not anymore.
Due to a major announcement that I might be making later this week, I might not be able to contribute to 5 Oz. with the same frequency as I am now. To address that situation and to also just improve the overall quality of the site, I made the decision to change policy and make 5 Oz. an ensemble cast.
I’ve been a huge fan of Adam’s work at Sprawl-N-Brawl for quite some time and have always enjoyed his cameos on “Any Given Saturday” and FightOpinion.com in the past. In fact, I thought so highly of him I wasn’t even initially on planning to ask him to become a part of the team because I just assumed he’d say no. I was talking about my intentions of bringing in outside contributors with my “Inside the Cage Radio” co-host Matt Cava and Matt suggested Adam. My basic reaction was “Why would Adam want to write for this site?” Matt asked Adam if he’d be interested, and much to my surprise, he was.
So thank you Matt and thank you Adam.
Adam will likely start contributing as early as Wednesday. He is also just one of up to two more contributors that will be brought into the fold. One has officially agreed to sign on but I want to wait a day or two for the announcement because he deserves his own announcement and not to be just lopped into this one as an afterthought. As for the other guy, I’m just waiting for him to officially agree and then an announcement will follow soon after.
And as for the big announcement that pertains to me, all I can say right now is stay tuned!
Written by admin on September 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Adam Morgan and Site News and MMA.
Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports has followed up his comments that were initially made during a post-UFC 76 article from late Saturday in which he briefly made mention that former UFC heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was contemplating retirement.
Iole now has a full-length feature devoted to the topic and the article includes several telling quotes from UFC president Dana White:
But White, Liddell’s former manager and a close personal friend, speculated that Liddell may simply no longer have the passion to fight. White said he didn’t see the fire that Liddell used to exhibit and that it resulted in a flat performance. At the post-fight news conference, Liddell deferred questions about his future. He said he would go home and think about whether he would fight again, which in and of itself was newsworthy since he’d never had given an indication before that he was remotely considering that option.
But White said he spoke with Liddell in the locker room and they had a frank discussion.
“There’s a hunger thing that you have to have to be an elite fighter and I just didn’t see a Chuck Liddell who was as hungry as he used to be,” White said Sunday. “Chuck has made a lot of money in this business and he’s done a lot of things, but he wasn’t the Chuck of old.
“Chuck was never a guy who fought for money; he fought because he loved to fight. He’d just as soon go out and fight in the back yard for free as fight before 20,000 people on a card he was making a ton of money because he just loved to fight.”
I’d hate to see Liddell retire. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and I think his exit would hurt the sport. I also think that it would be a mistake though for him to continue fighting if the “fire” isn’t there anymore. However, and I’ve said this already, I think that with some time off that the urge to return will become too great.
If Dana is correct that Chuck truly loves to fight, then he’s not going to be able to stay away from the cage for an extended period of time if he continues to go to shows and be a part of the scene.
Check out more Chuck Liddell content on 5 Oz. of Pain.
Written by admin on September 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 76 and Chuck Liddell and UFC and MMA.
While Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has already said as much, FiveOuncesOfPain.com can confirm that there is very little validity to the rumors that Ricardo Arona is close to finalizing a deal with the UFC.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted a source close to Arona via e-mail and that source has indicated that he will be in Europe for the next 40 days, making a deal almost impossible to complete. Furthermore, Arona has made no mention to the source about the possibility of signing with the UFC.
This isn’t to say that Arona won’t sign with the company in the future, only that previous reports that a deal was near completion simply are not accurate.
And according to other sources, several organizations, including the UFC and EliteXC, have been contacted about the services of the former Pride light heavyweight in recent months. Neither promotion was willing to meet his asking price.
According to many analysts, Arona is a top ten light heavyweight and would be a major acquisition to any talent roster. As such, when he finishes his obligations in Europe it would not be surprising to see him sign a deal with a major fight organization.
Written by admin on September 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC and EliteXC and MMA.
No older articles
Newer articles »