Chuck Liddell hopes to show his victory over Wanderlei Silva wasn't a fluke when he takes on Shogun Rua in June. Photo Courtesy: Zuffa, LLC
Iceman-Shogun Super-match set for June
Fresh off his victory over Wanderlei Silva, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell is now set to take on another legend in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The fight is scheduled for June 14th in London, England. Rua is considered by many to be the best light-heavyweight in the world despite his loss to Forrest Griffin in September.
The Liddell-Rua fight is almost as highly anticipated among hardcore MMA fans as the Liddell-Silva match was. Rua has beaten the likes of Ricardo Arona, Kevin Randleman, and current UFC light-heavyweight champion, Rampage Jackson.
Liddell is still trying to recover from his back-to-back losses in 2006, to Jackson and Keith Jardine. The victory over Silva kept him in the forefront of top contenders and a victory over Rua could make him the number one contender against the winner of the Jackson-Griffin fight.
Rua needs to bounce back and prove himself inside the cage of the UFC. Although the loss to Griffin was a surprise to most, a victory over Liddell will show everyone that Rua is still a force to reckon with. After his previous two losses, Rua went on a several fight winning streak.
This fight should set up very well for Liddell. Rua is a similar fighter to Silva. Both are quite aggressive and have strong jiu-jitsu skills. If Rua decides to have a stand-up war with Liddell like Silva did, then the fight could be over early. Should Rua decide to try and get past Liddell’s superb takedown defense and get the fight on the ground, he should have the advantage and could pull the upset. Still being four months away from the fight, I’ll hold off on a prediction just yet. Look for another exciting fight, something the UFC has been very good about putting together lately.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Mauricio Rua, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Pay-Per-View, Rampage Jackson, UFC.
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3 Responses to “Iceman-Shogun Super-match set for June”
February 10th, 2008 at 3:33 am
The Iceman is all wrong for Shogun. I can picture Liddell knocking out Shogun, and unlike with Rampage, I have a hard time picturing Shogun ripping up Chuck with knees.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Iceman vs Shogun should be a very good matchup and entertaining. I think I’ll go with the Iceman on this one. Chuck will be “motivated” again for this fight. He was “motivated” for Wanderlei Silva, so I expect the same outcome with the possibility of a knockout.
I wonder if the wife will let me buy that PPV. :(
March 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
i could see how someone would say chuch is a bad match up for shogun. but just as easily could see shogun be the guy to succeed in taking down , dominating liddell both on the may or standing.
if shogun is in form it’s hard to imagine anybody beating him
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