Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, the poster boy of the UFC, who has been labeled as unbeatable by many of his fans, was knocked out 1:53 in the first round by the newly crowed Light HeavyWeight Champ, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Over the weeks leading to UFC 71, many people had predicted that Liddell would easily beat Rampage. I’m not sure why that was since it was Rampage who won in their first meeting in Pride. After watching the video’s of the first fight several times, my conclusion was that Rampage had all the tools to beat Chuck Liddell. My conclusion was correct. Chuck just can’t expect to out strike everyone.
Although Liddell lost, he went out with class so I tip my hat to him. He made it clear in his statement after the fight that Jackson had beat him fair and square. I think this is great for the sport of mixed martial arts, and with all the recent upsets this year, I truly believe that we are in for more exciting matchups over the next several months. Fighters are hungry, and no one seems to be overly dominant.
Now that Rampage is the newly crowned champ, he clearly is on the radar by everyone in his highly competitive class. According to the latest announcements, Rampage will make his first title defense against Dan Henderson, Pride’s current Middleweight Champ. I’m not too sure how long Jackson will be holding on to his UFC title. He needs to enjoy it while is lasts.
