UFC 71 - May 26th

[Rappy Veteran]

I want Rampage to win...its time for a new era but its gonna be a good fight...if Chuck beats Rampage he has avenged all his losses...

[Zoom7000]

I wanna see Chuck win purely for the fact that if he beats Rampage, then it's time for the big time... CroCop, Wandy and even Fedor... Chuck has just gotta do this one!

[Rappy Veteran]

Wow Keith Jardine just got knocked the hell out!!!...

[Zoom7000]

That stoppage in the main event was a bit quick. But it did seem Rampage landed some good pounds. Wow, that was quick though!

Edited May 27, 2007 by Zoom7000

[Fairlady_Z]

^^

With chucks arms spread out after the 2nd shot by Rampage.. It was a good stop. Otherwise he would've ate some more shots. Even if they they wouldn't of stopped it that moment, it would have been ground and pound all day for Rampage.

Edited May 27, 2007 by Fairlady_Z

[Zoom7000]

Yeah, I noticed his arms spread out, I do think Chuck was a little scared personally!

So it looks like Dan Henderson next for Rampage, what next for Chuck? I would have said Keith Jardine, but not after tonight!

[Rappy Veteran]

Woot!!!

Rampage owned so much!!!....Where does Chuck go now tho?...he wanted to avenge his losses and this one is still outstanding...

[WarriorUK]

It don't matter who won really because I can see Dan Henderson owning the crap outta everyone at 205.

[Rappy Veteran]

It don't matter who won really because I can see Dan Henderson owning the crap outta everyone at 205.

It's gonna be an interesting match...

[IlliniPi]

Liddell cost me $15 and a case of beer...definitely a huge win for Rampage though.

[metallithrax]

For those that may not have seen any footage (link)

[Rappy Veteran]

Great stuff metallithrax :D

[metallithrax]

Just watching it on Bravo +1, and if I was one of the fighters I would have to smack Buffer for taking so long with the intros.

[Rappy Veteran]

Just watching it on Bravo +1, and if I was one of the fighters I would have to smack Buffer for taking so long with the intros.

I love his brothers intros to the boxing fights..."Leeeeeeeets get ready to rumblllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle" :laugh:

[Matrix XII]

Wow Rampage won! That fight was really quick :o

[Rappy Veteran]

Chuck News...

After the fight, Pride star Dan Henderson entered the ring to challenge Jackson.

Liddell said after he planned to continue fighting, with UFC president Dana White saying Brazilian Wanderlei Silva would be his likely next opponent.

''I still love to fight. Nothing's changed. So yeah, I'll keep training and fighting. All stuff like this makes me want to do is get back in the gym and train more. I was in great shape for this fight and I was healthy. I made a mistake. I'll be back.''

The card drew a sellout of 14,728 and a live gate of US$4.3 million.

Confirmed Payouts...

Jackson earned $450,000 by winning, the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced. Liddell was paid $500,000, and would've gained another $500,000 had he won

[LRoling]

Great fight! I personally am not a fan of Chuck Liddell for a number of reasons, but the main one being, he refuses to change his style. And his style is eventually going to get him dominated by PRIDE fighters. He goes into every fight with one thing in mind: Keep the fight on my feet, and if I go down, get back on my feet and start punching. It really makes me think he should just go and box. MMA fighters that have a multitude of styles will eventually overcome the fighters who look for the one punch. Great example: Parisyan vs Burkman fight. Burkman blows all his energy trying to connect, and gets dominated.

Fight recap: Chuck looked scared and Rampage looked in awesome condition. You could tell what Chuck's gameplan was easily, he wanted Quinton to take the first strike and then he was going to counterstrike like always. Rampage knew that from the get go, and eventually taunted Chuck to hit him. After about 50 seconds, the entangling ensued and wham! Chuck goes down. Loved it.

Future implications and fights:

Chuck should quit now. Liddell will NEVER be a force in UFC from now on. Dan Henderson is a beast. Shogun is a beast in submissions and overall aggressiveness. Although Shogun/Liddell would be a good matchup since Shogun takes big chances and is susceptible to big hits, he's still a jiu-jitsu master, and shows it. Wanderlei Silva is taking the rest of the year off to make a final hurricane of a 2008 fighting season. Liddell has said he wants to shut Silva up, but with Silva training for 7 months straight through the rest of the year, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of shape he comes out of it in.

Henderson, Silva, Rua, I believe, will dominate the top of an UFC light heavyweight division. Henderson especially. Rampage will have to train his ass off and show us all that he is a different fighter. He was dominated by Rua, and Silva showed Rampage his own Muay Thai clench that resulted in Rampage taking one of the most spectacular beatings I've ever seen, granted he still was standing, shows he can take a hit, about 20 of them.

The Light-Heavyweight division in UFC alone is in deep trouble as far as UFC fighters go. The PRIDE guys coming over are dominant. Some of them love to fight on their feet. And they may not have do so well, but some of them have some of the best ground attacks in MMA. I don't see someone like Bisping get past the top 4 or 5 fighters in the division.

On one final note, Fedor, please come to UFC and shut all the people up! I'm tired of hearing this Couture/Fedor comparison I've heard from some MMA people around the sport and blogs. I firmly believe Couture would be mincemeat in a Fedor match. But in all fairness, Couture is a beast. So it'd probably be a decent fight, but basically, this is my anxious post to see Fedor finally come over.

Onto UFC 72, not too excited about it, but oh well, is Rua going to fight in it?

[Rappy Veteran]

Great fight! I personally am not a fan of Chuck Liddell for a number of reasons, but the main one being, he refuses to change his style. And his style is eventually going to get him dominated by PRIDE fighters. He goes into every fight with one thing in mind: Keep the fight on my feet, and if I go down, get back on my feet and start punching. It really makes me think he should just go and box. MMA fighters that have a multitude of styles will eventually overcome the fighters who look for the one punch. Great example: Parisyan vs Burkman fight. Burkman blows all his energy trying to connect, and gets dominated.

Fight recap: Chuck looked scared and Rampage looked in awesome condition. You could tell what Chuck's gameplan was easily, he wanted Quinton to take the first strike and then he was going to counterstrike like always. Rampage knew that from the get go, and eventually taunted Chuck to hit him. After about 50 seconds, the entangling ensued and wham! Chuck goes down. Loved it.

Future implications and fights:

Chuck should quit now. Liddell will NEVER be a force in UFC from now on. Dan Henderson is a beast. Shogun is a beast in submissions and overall aggressiveness. Although Shogun/Liddell would be a good matchup since Shogun takes big chances and is susceptible to big hits, he's still a jiu-jitsu master, and shows it. Wanderlei Silva is taking the rest of the year off to make a final hurricane of a 2008 fighting season. Liddell has said he wants to shut Silva up, but with Silva training for 7 months straight through the rest of the year, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of shape he comes out of it in.

Henderson, Silva, Rua, I believe, will dominate the top of an UFC light heavyweight division. Henderson especially. Rampage will have to train his ass off and show us all that he is a different fighter. He was dominated by Rua, and Silva showed Rampage his own Muay Thai clench that resulted in Rampage taking one of the most spectacular beatings I've ever seen, granted he still was standing, shows he can take a hit, about 20 of them.

The Light-Heavyweight division in UFC alone is in deep trouble as far as UFC fighters go. The PRIDE guys coming over are dominant. Some of them love to fight on their feet. And they may not have do so well, but some of them have some of the best ground attacks in MMA. I don't see someone like Bisping get past the top 4 or 5 fighters in the division.

On one final note, Fedor, please come to UFC and shut all the people up! I'm tired of hearing this Couture/Fedor comparison I've heard from some MMA people around the sport and blogs. I firmly believe Couture would be mincemeat in a Fedor match. But in all fairness, Couture is a beast. So it'd probably be a decent fight, but basically, this is my anxious post to see Fedor finally come over.

Onto UFC 72, not too excited about it, but oh well, is Rua going to fight in it?

I have to say ufc 72 doesn't interest me either....theres a few fights there that makes me think its a filler ppv...after UFC 71 how do you top that well you don't until a few ppv's time when Couture faces Gonzaga...I think he makes his debut soon but I didn't see it mentioned in the preview.

[LRoling]

I had heard Rua might be on the UFC 72 card to make it more exciting, but no more word on it yet.

[Rappy Veteran]

Yeah it seems I mentioned that on here :laugh:

[LRoling]

Ahh, Sobral would be a great fight. Hopefully, it happens.

[Rappy Veteran]

Ahh, Sobral would be a great fight. Hopefully, it happens.

Yeah whats also good is that he has defeated him...

[Zoom7000]

Yeah whats also good is that he has defeated him...

Twice...

[LRoling]

I find the Shogun fights to be amusing since he usually ends them with a headstomp to the face. But the fact that it isn't allowed in UFC and he can't shove a guy into a belt buckle and stomp his brains in, leads me to believe UFC may be tougher for him.

[Rappy Veteran]

I find the Shogun fights to be amusing since he usually ends them with a headstomp to the face. But the fact that it isn't allowed in UFC and he can't shove a guy into a belt buckle and stomp his brains in, leads me to believe UFC may be tougher for him.

Yeah thats the major difference between the 2 companies...and why probably some Pride fights might struggle...

More complex Salaries...

The number for Quinton Jackson is half of what was previously reported by the LA Times (see: Report: Liddell Earned $500,000; Jackson $450,000 at UFC 71). I believe the number originally reported was incorrectly assumed to be comprised of a standard “to show” base salary plus a “to win” bonus, and was thus mistakenly doubled from $225,000 to $450,000. Instead of the “to win” bonus, main event fighters are usually compensated with a percentage of Pay Per View sales.

* Quinton Jackson ($225,000) def. Chuck Liddell ($500,000) by KO - Round 1, 1:53

* Karo Parisyan ($32,000) def. Josh Burkman ($7,000) by unanimous decision

* Terry Martin ($12,000) def. Ivan Salaverry ($17,500) by TKO - Round 1, 2:04

* Houston Alexander ($8,000) def. Keith Jardine ($7,000) by TKO - Round 1, 0:48

* Kalib Starnes ($10,000) def. Chris Leben ($10,000) by unanimous decision

* Thiago Silva ($16,000) def. James Irvin ($7,000) by TKO - Round 1, 1:06

* Alan Belcher ($14,000) def. Sean Salmon ($3,000) by guillotine choke - Round 1, 0:53

* Din Thomas ($28,000) def. Jeremy Stephens ($3,000) by armbar - Round 2, 2:24

* Wilson Gouveia ($16,000) def. Cermelo Marrero ($5,000) by guillotine choke - Round 1, 3:06

Edited May 29, 2007 by Rappy