UFC 71 Liddell vs Jackson (SPOILER)

[Giant Killer]

Well, looks like Chuck's style of holding his hands really low seems to have cost him this time. Nice hook from Jackson. Once Chuck landed on the ground, looked like one punch knocked him out and the next woke him back up, that's why he initially complained about the stoppage, but it was the right call.

The other fights were good, too. Interesting bear hug from behind situation in one of them. The fighter caught in the bear hug seemed to try to do a Judo style bear hug defense, which didn't get him anywhere (only knocked out, because he couldn't brace himself for the takedown). I wonder if it would have been legal for him to try a KM-style bear hug defense, throwing elbows to the head and stomping the feet. Creating leverage on the finger likely would not have been allowed, but how about hitting the back of the hand or digging the knuckles into it?

Karo Parisyan had a nice Judo throw, but I'm not sure about his singing... :( Oh, and good kicks to the legs in the one pre-fight and great knockout by Houston Alexander.

Tons of good stuff. Will be interesting to see Dan Henderson fight at the UFC. By the way, what happened to Cro Cop? Will he fight again? When?

Good also to see the local news channel use the UFC as their top story and suddenly talk like MMA pros when before they barely ever showed footage of boxing or other fights.

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Giantkiller

[gp]

GK, you hit it on the button. Jackson's hook was beautiful given Liddell's fighting style. I thought this would be an excellent fight since Chuck hasn't fought against a standup striker in awhile (unless you count Tito but I think he's more ground and pound).

I was shocked at the result of the Jardine/Alexander fight. I like Jardine but Alexander had his number. Greg Jackson must be scratching his head after seeing two of top fighters lose in the last few months (Sanchez and Jardine).

Rumor has it that Cro Cop will fight in UFC 75.

[XKirian]

The year of the upset....lessons learned. Always remember the BASICS...no matter how good you are...

Chuck made a basic mistake....NEVER end at the body. Body/Head....Body/Head... otherwise you leave yourself wide open. If Chuck would have followed that left hook to the body up with a Left Hook or Right cross to the head, Jackson would have been defending that shot versus throwing the right hook that dropped Chuck.

GSP made a basic mistake.... always cover the \"entire side\" of your head/back of your head when you Roll/Block the hook/kick so you dont get caught on the back of your head by the punch or the foot. GSP just brought his hand up to cover his temple and jaw and missed the hook that Serra threw which caught the side/back of his head, he never recovered after that shot.

Cro Cop made a basic mistake.....dont ALWAYS circle in the same direction and certainly dont circle close into someone's power hand/leg and oh yeah by the way dont drop your hands to block a high kick.

Again the basics.

Kirian

[Giant Killer]

Well, I guess it's kind of comforting for all of us to know that even the best fighters still need to work on the basics sometimes.

I suppose keeping the hands low is Chucks style though. For some reason he always holds them low and it seemed to work okay for him, until now... :( Jackson's punch didn't appear to come right on top of Liddell's, there was maybe a split second before he threw it, time for Liddell to get the hand back up, but he just didn't do it. Yes, a punch to the head after the body punch could have kept Jackson too busy to counter and would have brought Liddell's arm back up automatically.

I wonder who will fight Cro Cop? Another unknown? May not be a good idea after what happened last time... :lol:

Maybe the favorite fighters are taking the underdogs too lightly and thus make mistakes that could have been avoided. It's fun to watch the underdogs win, though...

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Giantkiller

[XKirian]

Originally Posted by \"Giant Killer\"

Jackson's punch didn't appear to come right on top of Liddell's, there was maybe a split second before he threw it,
Giantkiller

My point exactly...if Chuck followed up to the head in that \"split second\".... Jackson couldn't have thrown the punch or if he did, he might have been the one to get caught, not Chuck....

To help drive the point home this taken from ESPN.Com...

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\"Jackson didn't have time to establish the jab that played out so effectively for him in the light heavyweights' first clash in Tokyo. But the new champion didn't need a stiff lead hand when Liddell hastily went to the body.

\"He saw an opening and he took it,\" said Liddell's chief trainer John Hackleman, who four years ago ended The Iceman's night against Jackson when he threw in the towel 13 minutes into the brawl. \"The risk highly outweighed the benefit of that technique and he paid the price.\"

Going to the body without a combination in front of it or a punch after opened the Iceman to a counter attack from his younger, faster opponent, said his trainer.

\"I was doing my thing,\" said Jackson, who with the technical knockout at 1:53 of the first round raised his record to 27-6-0. \"The right hand landed right on the jaw, right where I planned for it to go, and it was destiny.\"
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Again the basics...no matter who you are.

Kirian

[Giant Killer]

Yes, and we can all learn from it. Liddell was also very open AS he was throwing that body punch, so Jackson might have been able to throw that counter punch even earlier. They always tell us not to drop that arm too much in order to go to the body but Liddell did and paid the price.

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Giantkiller

[G.V.]

That was a great UFC event...some of the best fights I've seen them put on, actually.

[greenbeanie]

[Giant Killer]

\"Liddell was also very open AS he was throwing that body punch,\"
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Chuck's trainer, John Hackelman, said \"The risk highly outweighed the benefit of that technique.\" The technique being a lead body shot from the outside.

[Giant Killer]

I'd agree. The body shot wasn't likely to cause much damage to Jackson, unless maybe he would have used it as a set up for a hook to the head, as Kirian was saying.

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Giantkiller

[J Frank]

Loved seeing Rampage wearing the belt, but my favorite fighter of the night was Houston Alexander, that dude is an explosion!

[CLFMak]

Parisyan is always fun to watch.

There's ways of finishing with body shots, just not like that.

[G.V.]

Originally Posted by \"J Frank\"

Loved seeing Rampage wearing the belt, but my favorite fighter of the night was Houston Alexander, that dude is an explosion!

Yup, totally. Keith Jardine, walked in overconfident and got owned, big time. Great hooks and uppercuts from that Houston feller.

[CLFMak]

Houston was new to the UFC, right? I see him going places.