UFC 115: Chuck Liddell - “He can dish it out, but can he take it?”

Chuck Liddell takes on Rich Franklin in the main event at UFC 115 on June 12th

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Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell (21-7, 13 KO’s) was a sure-fire MMA superstar before the current rise of the monthly pay-per-view fight cards that we see now. He won the light-heavyweight title at UFC 52 (April 2005) with a 1 st round KO against Randy Couture and went on to defend it in four consecutive bouts. Since his title reign (April 2005 – May 2007), “The Iceman” has melted down to an ice cube winning only once since the beginning of 2007.

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Some fear that Liddell may lose focus and motivation because his heated TUF 11 coaching rival Tito Ortiz, was replaced by his good friend Rich Franklin. Ortiz had to fall out because of a lingering neck injury. I, for one, don’t see Liddell losing any motivation for this fight, mainly because he is in desperate need of a victory. If he doesn’t produce a solid performance in his UFC 115 main event, his UFC fighting privileges would surely be provoked. He has been less than impressive in too many recent bouts for him to continue and come up short. His back is against the proverbial wall once again.

Any fan of the UFC can figure out that whoever comes into this bout with the tightest striking game will walk away the winner. Liddell is not shy admitting that he comes into his fights with the intent to do physical damage to his opponent. Although his aggressive strategy hasn’t worked as of late, you just can’t count him out. He has way too much power in his hands to do that, and power is something that doesn’t go stale.

The part about the stand-up that may give Liddell some trouble is not whether he can dish out the pain, but rather if he can still take it. Shogun (Rua), Rashad (Evans), and Rampage (Jackson) have all stopped Chuck over the last couple of years with punches. He has gone the distance with both Wanderlei Silva (W) and Keith Jardine (L), so that theory remains somewhat of a mystery. Franklin does have some KO power, although more on the level of a present-day Wanderlei Silva than a Rashad Evans. I like Liddell’s chances in an all out slugfest as long as he avoids the clinch and knees of Franklin. That would spell doom for “The Iceman.”

As far as the ground game goes, there really isn’t a whole lot of discussion. Franklin will utilize his Jorge Gurgel-trained jiu-jitsu while Liddell prefers to use his solid collection of collegiate wrestling moves. While both are excellent at these particular dimensions, they both use them only out of necessity. You probably won’t see these two on the mat working for position too much during this fight, but if you do, I like Liddell mostly because of his strength.

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It’s a nice throwback fight on a somewhat lackluster UFC 115 Vancouver fight card. Expect to see an improved Liddell against an always solid Franklin, however if you’re expecting the same type of fireworks that they demonstrated as champions, then you missed that by a couple of years. It should still be worth a look, even just to see if Liddell still has “it.” I myself think that he goes in with some extra motivation in hope of earning a future bout with his hated rival Tito Ortiz. With a title completely out of the question, will that be enough to motivate the longtime former champion?

> Don't miss our UFC 115 feature on Rich Franklin: “Ace in the Hole”

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer