Quinton “Rampage” Jackson beat Chuck Liddell, just as I thought would happen. I hate to say it but read the earlier blog. Ok I like to say it. I was off on everyfight of the night except for the Rampage vs. Lidell and the Karo vs. Burkman so it felt good. Rampage caught Chuck with a right to the jaw after Chuck sent a left to Jackson’s body. After Liddell fell to the mat Rampage followed up quickly with a combo flurry. It was a little messy, but got the job done in the end. It happened a little quicker than everyone anticisted though. In the UFC post fight press even Rampage himself thought it ended quicker than he personally expected.
I thought it was stopped a little early at first glance, but when the reply was shown I understood why the Big John McCarthy stopped it. Liddell’s arms went limp at one point flagging the ref to stop the fight. Chuck has great recovery time though and probally could have fought a little longer but this one was gonna end up with on the mat either way. I still dont understand why Rampage was the underdog though. Probally an uneducted media along with Chuck holding the belt.
So Rampage repeated history only to have Dan Henderson come in the ring at the end of the fight with his two Pride belts over shining Jackson’s newly aquired light heavyweight belt. Jackson didnt get a long time to reveal in his new spotlight. Dan is a bad dude as well from Pride in Japan. Dan just recently knocked Wanderli out in a Pride fight. Remeber the guy who has knocked Rampage out twice? Yep. Looks like the UFC Light Heavyweight just got a serious infusion of hard pipe swinging fighters. After the fight I drove myself mad trying to think of who would match up next. Wanderli and Chuck?, Rampage and Dan?, Shogun and ??. Someone said what about Tito, and my first reaction was, “who?”.
I had a feeling Karo would beat him by decision due to Karo’s long history of decisions, but like always he made for a good showing. He basically threw Burkman down more often and landed some good combos to get a decision. Not to mention he dominated the entire fight. Burkman was never in control of the fight. He made a joke at the end singing my judo throws are the best. It sounded a little arrogant, but later he explained he was mocking a Borat movie scene song. Don’t quit your day job Karo.
Who is Houston Alexander? Well, eveyone found out when he went up against Jardine. Keith Jardine was quoted as saying that he should have to fight a new comer since he had just beaten Forrest Griffen. Hmmm, gotta fight every fight like it is your last dude. He basically took the fight to lightley in my mind. I expected Jardine to finish Alexander in the first round. It seemed like it would happen because Jardine caught Alexander in the beginning, but Alexander put him against the fence and bombed Jardine to death till he fell face first on the mat. Alexander said he sliped at first, but after watching the reply Im not sure I buy it. Maybe moved out of the way and lost balance after a punch knocked him back or something. Way to go Alexander, but don’t get to cocky especially after how Jardine lost.
Terry Martin came to bang at UFC 71. This guy is a pounder and could easily go down to the welterweight class. Maybe his strategy is to stay since this divison has less competition. I would too, the UFC welterweigt and the light heavy is so deep now your gonna have to fight a career of fights before getting a belt shot.
The Leben match was not as good as Chris Leben annouced at the end. It had its bangs and takedowns but not much action in my opinion for two fighters of this caliber. I though Chrsi would win this one too, but he ended up losing a close decision. Even Kalib thought it was close because he annouced after the fight that Chris should have won. I am betting the winning check still goes in Kalib’s bank account.
