Over the course of this past UFC 93 weekend in Dublin, Ireland, the UFC officially announced two major upcoming fights in the light heavyweight division.
Leaving little time to enjoy his victory over Mark Coleman, Dana White announced that Mauricio Rua will face off against former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell at UFC 97 this April. Liddell and Rua were originally slated to fight back at UFC 85 last year, but the first of two knee injuries forced Rua to withdraw from the fight. Liddell last fought at UFC 88 where he lost via KO to current light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.
Also announced during the UFC 93 Pay-Per-View broadcast, was a light heavyweight matchup between Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine. The two will square off at UFC 96 this March in what is a rather peculiar fight matchup. After his recent victory over Wanderlei Silva, many expected Jackson to either rematch with Forrest Griffin or be the first opponent to challenge for Rashad Evan’s belt.
Matching Jackson and Jardine doesn’t make much sense to me and is a rather boring matchup. If Jackson does win, you would have to think he will be the No. 1 contender for Evan’s belt. If Jardine wins, we cannot assume the same however, as both Jardine and Evans train together at Greg Jackson’s gym and have stated on several occasions that they would not fight each other.
UFC 97 is currently scheduled for April 18 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and is expected to be headlined by a middleweight title fight between current champion Anderson Silva and challenger Thales Leites. UFC 96 is currently scheduled for March 7 in Columbus, Ohio.
bvrasp
richard
R.J. St.Croix
MMAKansas
Amir
Kansas,
Go ahead and start lining up your excuses now!! Although with the two most washed up fighters at 205 squaring off, someone has to win, right?
I don’t need to make excuses … Chuck and Shogun are in bad spots, no doubt, Shogun is in dire need of a comeback after gassing out in his most recent fight. I noticed he wanted to revert to striking with knees and kicks on a downed opponent, imagine how tough it must be to go from FIGHTING, to American MMA – CSA and NSA rules.. lol wow, you almost have RETRAIN and tone it down a bit.
Other thing I noticed, is that Coleman has what we weight lifters call b-tits — in other words, it’s obvious he was as big as he was with a WWE build with a little help.. I guess I just invited everyone to yell at me on this, but hey, regardless of his gas tank and age, he is STRONG, and he is a WRESTLER with a decent chin and a lot of heart, he made RUA WORK HIS BUTT OFF ON THE GROUND for the first round, CHUCK wont do that, if they are just dancing in a circle striking, Rua wont gas as fast, I think if it had been strictly a standing war, Rua would have made it to Round 3 without gassing badly, probably would have KO’ed Coleman in round one too – with Chuck you have only the option of a right hand, with RUA, you have leg kick combo strikes, switch changes, and Rua’s chin hasn’t been rattled as bad at 27 so he can still take a shot without going to sleep, I believe Chuck is getting KO’ed easier and easier now that Jackson exposed him, he isn’t as good against fellow strikers, and ever since the flood gates of strikers in the 205 opened up, what you have is less Tito/Babalu/Couture, and more Jackson, Rashad, Wand, and Rua, therefore you have more guys willing to challenge Chucks striking superiority. I think Chucks legs will get tired, and I think he will land on Rua and almost end the fight several times, but I believe in the end, Rua will neutralize Chuck with speed, kicks, and even a ground game that Chuck might not be so able to defend at 39, with a younger stronger, hopefully more cardio (by the fight I hope) Rua.
wow i hope all these fights do happen in MTL, but im a bit skeptical about them putting that much starpower on a card outside of Vegas. i guess it doesnt matter a whole lot who is on the card because im sure i’ll be going no matter what, a UFC show is more or less an excuse to go and hang out in Montreal for the weekend lol i just wish they would do it in the summer because its a bit cold there still in Avril.
p.s. anyone who might be attending the show in MTL let me know and we can hook up and party, MTL is my city and trust me when i say when you get there you wont want to leave.
rampage vs jardine is a almost a lose lose for rampage if he loses hes f*cked and if he wins it really doesnt even matter cuz the guys coming off a very ugly loss.
you mean ugly win, Jardines last bout was a split decision win over Vera but it was ugly anyways lol. your point stands and your right it is kind of a pointless go for Rampage who is probably the number one contender without having to fight again to prove it.
Ya i think Rampage is the #1 contender too, but i think a rematch with Forrest makes sense too, plus id much rather see that fight than against Jardine. Plus now that Rashad is the champ he wont be fighting again for the next 6 months anyways….. i hate when they do that…. especially when the champ gets injured too, oh another 6 months…
WTF? Why didn’t the UFC give Jackson the title shot? He is definitely the #1 contender, hell, he is actually the champion if wasn’t robbed of his title. UFC is trying to make money with stupid matches. This has to be Dana’s idea, I’m telling you, he is the biggest f@gg0t in this world! I am almost sure that stupid-*** Griffin will get a title shot before Rampage, this is all f*ckd up!! DIE DANA!!
dont quote me on this but i think i read somewhere that Rampage said no to the title fight, or maybe it was Rashad that turned it down. one or the other but i dont think it was the UFC, Dana White, or Joe Silva that prevented that matchup from what i understand.