[bigboydan]

2007 UFC 71 – Liddell vs. Jackson


There’s only one man that has beaten Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell that Liddell hasn’t paid back with a beating. Chuck Liddell will get the chance to scratch that name off his vengeance list on May 25th when he faces Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in 2007 UFC 71.


Liddell has won his last seven matches, all by knockout or technical knockout. The Iceman hasn’t tasted defeat since he faced Quinton Jackson in the PRIDE 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix. Liddell was the UFC representative in the event, while Jackson was signed on with PRIDE when he beat Liddell badly in a TKO decision.


Since his loss to Rampage, Liddell has torn through the UFC with seven straight victories. All seven wins have come by knockout or TKO and have included two knockouts of Randy Couture and two TKO’s of Tito Ortiz. Liddell is known as an excellent striker with pure power and he can also take out his opponent with quick accurate leg strikes. He’s a well-rounded grappler, but if he has one weakness it would be on the ground in the octagon. If Liddell has his way the only thing on the ground will be Jackson, as he sprawls out on the mat after taking some wicked shots to the head.


Liddell may be a big betting favorite in this match and is considered by many to be the best MMA fighter in the world today, but don’t count out Jackson. Jackson is nicknamed ‘Rampage’ for a reason, because he’s an extremely powerful beast that is known to KO his opponents with lethal power slams. Jackson made his UFC debut versus Marvin Eastman in February at UFC 67 and finished off Eastman in the second round with a flurry of uppercuts that sent Eastman to the floor.



Liddell enters this match with a lifetime MMA record of 20-3, while Jackson is 26-6 in his MMA career. Liddell puts his UFC World Fight Heavyweight Championship title on the line in this fight and Jackson could make a real name for himself in the UFC if he can end Liddell’s long reign at the top.

[bigboydan]

Heres whats gonna happen to Chuck Liddell when he faces Jackson on May 25th.

[sdjoe]

This is going to be a great fight , I will proably take rampage and the odds in this one .I dont see the fight going the distance .

Rampage has not progressed as a fighter in the last couple of years , That first fight was in 2003 ,Chuck is a way better fighter now & 7 straight wins over some tough guys , Tito Ortiz twice , Jermy Horn , Randy Couture twice, Renato Sobral.Chucks take down defense has got better , his striking is better now and his cardio is better ( he drinks coors light now )

Rampage destroyed Chuck in 2003 and had a great ko slam of top 205lb Ricardo Arona in Pride in 2004 , but since then he has been in a funk , With Ko losses to Wanderlei Silva and Muarico Shogun Rua ( Silva is ranked 4 in the world and shogun is 2 in the world maybe soon to be #1 )his last couple of wins where some no nammers in pride ,Matt lindland decision that should of went to Matt going up in weight to fight RP . And a win against a not very talented Marvin Eastmen.

I see this fight not lasting past the second round ,KO could go either way .

[goldengoat]

i got a small lean towards rampage as long as he throws that jab often and stiff

[slacker00]

The only way Chuck loses is if he gets complacent. I see avenging his previous loss as plenty of motivation.

But if you can get better than 5-1, might as well take the underdog. With two capable fighters the underdog always has a puncher's chance. What's the current line on this fight anyway?

[goldengoat]

fight way too short but page wins convincingly

would have liked to see it go a round or two but will take it

[bigboydan]

I paid to watch this one, and it was like I was watching the Spinks/Tyson fight all over again.

[slacker00]

I have to admit, I knew nothing about rampage and had never seen him fight. I had seen most of Chuck's fights since he became champ and was impressed with him. I need to be a lot more diligent if I want to try to handicap this sport intelligently at all.

I read on some other message boards (before the fight) about how Liddell was beating up on grapplers (Couture, Sobral, Ortiz, Horn) and he's be in for a rude awakening when he ran into someone that could stand with him. That's a very apt assessment, because Chuck has the perfect recipe for grapplers, himself being a former college wrestler. He has enough skills to sprawl and stay on his feet, forcing the grapplers to play to his own strength which is kickboxing. Rampage is what happens when Chuck runs into someone who can stand with him. I wonder if UFC was grooming Chuck a little too much with his recent opponent selection, before the Rampage fight, trying to build a star.

[BigBollocks]

Kudos to Jackson as he just completely whipped Chuck's ass again. Jackson was just getting destroyed his last few fights in Pride (his beating at the hands of Shogun is on youtube), but once again a mediocre Pride fighter just tears apart his UFC counterpart. I really thought his recent beatdowns had completely destroyed Jackson's career and shaken his confidance.

The difference in class between Pride and UFC is enormous....

[slacker00]

I've gotta check out pride. I've never seen a pride fight. Rampage beating Chuck like that has gotta leave a lot of UFC fans wondering about pride. I'm fairly new to MMA and have heard the rumblings on the message boards about how pride completely owns UFC & all others, now I'm starting to wonder...

[goldengoat]

Originally Posted by BigBollocks

The difference in class between Pride and UFC is enormous....

this statement is complete nonsense

there have been several cases both ways of former pride fighters beating ufc fighters and ufc fighters beating former pride fighters

styles make fights

[Mr Nuts]

Originally Posted by goldengoat

this statement is complete nonsense

there have been several cases both ways of former pride fighters beating ufc fighters and ufc fighters beating former pride fighters

styles make fights

I couldnt agree more.