Chuck Versus Wanderlei

For years, a fight between the UFC’s Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and Pride’s Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva was MMA fans’ biggest dream. Both were feared strikers who dominated their competition and were the face of their organizations. Part of what made the match-up so compelling is that both also perfectly symbolized the larger rivalry between the UFC and Pride, as they were each uniquely suited to the fighting styles within their organizations. The answer of who would win also implicitly included the answer of which organization was better.
As the UFC’s popularity dramatically increased over the last few years, so has Liddell’s, their 205 lb. champ for much of that time. With devastating knockout power in an unassuming frame and a down to earth, everyman personality, he became the fighter everyone wanted to see. He’s knocked out a long list of MMA greats including both Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz twice. As Pride’s 205 lb. champ for most of the last 5 years, Wanderlei Silva is one of the most popular fighters in MMA history. Fighting with a visceral, animal ferocity, ‘Wandy’ loves to dish it out, and doesn’t mind receiving it either. Having once compiled a record of twenty straight fights without a loss, he’s one of the most feared, respected, and beloved fighters ever, by fans and fellow fighters alike.
When the UFC acquired Pride this Spring they signed many of their fighters. Among them was Silva, and ever since, there’s been speculation as to who his first UFC opponent would be. Many assumed Liddell, but the fight had been promised so often while never coming about that many assumed that it just wasn’t meant to happen. However, on October 22, UFC President Dana White made it official. The most anticipated MMA fight in history, Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, would happen on December 29th.
In general, fights come down to the physical skills and mental/emotional qualities of the combatants, and intangibles, including just plain luck. Here’s how I feel each fighter matches up in those areas.
Physical skills: There are those who think Wandy’s wide-open style should be good for the counter-punching Liddell. Though that may be correct in theory, Silva has faced quality strikers before and in general, they haven’t been able to take sufficient advantage of it. Even though both are big hitters they have very different styles. Silva is more aggressive and likes to get in close, while Liddell, who probably has the edge in power, prefers to let his opponent bring the fight to him, as he circles and takes advantage of their misses. However, one of the advantages for Silva is that Liddell will probably never exploit his biggest weakness, his takedown defense. The surest way to beating Wandy is taking him down and punishing him, as Tito Ortiz showed back in the day, and Pride fighters Ricardo Arona and Yoshida did, more recently. Both Liddell and Silva are very good, although unorthodox, stand up fighters. Wanderlei is very quick, has knockout power in both hands, and great low kicks and knees. He’s a terrific finisher; when he has his opponent hurt he takes advantage with flurries of strikes in bunches. He has a tremendous chin and great recuperative powers. He can be hit; because he’s always attacking, he does sometimes leave himself open. He has great cardio, as he keeps his constantly-attacking style throughout the entire fight.
Liddell is essentially a good kickboxer with great power and a pretty solid chin of his own. He has looping punches which he throws from unorthodox angles that can devastate his opponent, sometimes from very short distances, like the punches that knocked out Couture and Kevin Randleman. One thing that may have ended up hurting him in his recent fights and may hurt him against Silva is that he’s basically stopped checking or throwing leg kicks, which had been part of his arsenal (like the one he knocked Renato Sobral down with). He’s hinted it’s been because of a knee injury he fights with but hasn’t gotten surgery on yet. But not using every weapon at his disposal against an accomplished Muay-Thai practitioner like Wanderlei could cost him. He’s still a threat to end a fight at any moment, but another thing which may cause concern is that the vaunted striker has been out-struck recently, against Rampage Jackson and, most noticeably, Keith Jardine. Silva has lost to strikers recently also, but one was Mirko “Cro-Cop”, who’s naturally in a higher weight class, and in Silva’s fight with Dan Henderson, it seemed like he wasn’t physically his normal self; it’s been said he had a major dental procedure the week before the fight.
Liddell has great takedown defense, and perhaps even greater ability to get back up after he’s been taken down, but that probably wouldn’t come into play against Silva, who rarely attempts takedowns. Liddell also may have somewhat suspect cardio, which has been an issue during some of his fights, though probably not any within the past few years.
So physical skills-wise, it seems to break down like this:
1) This is going to be a fight probably fought entirely in standup.
2) In theory, Liddell, who probably has the edge in power, may also have a counter-puncher’s natural edge against the very aggressive Silva.
3) Liddell has been out-struck by strikers recently.
4) It remains to be seen how Liddell will handle Wanderlei’s excellent Muay-Thai, with its clinch-fighting and knee strikes, something he hasn’t faced much of in the past.
I give Wanderlei a slight edge in standup. I wouldn’t be surprised if Liddell gets the better of the standup either, but his fight with Jardine may be of concern, as he got out-struck by a striker who wasn’t supposed to be in his league.
Mental/Emotional qualities: This may be tough to judge. Both fighters are coming off of 2 straight losses. Liddell lost to Jackson, which was an upset, and then lost to Jardine which was a much bigger upset. Many fighters would be down in the dumps, and he has to feel some of that also, but I’ve always felt he has a good mentality for a fighter; he never seems to get too high or too low, doesn’t over-analyze things, and seems to stay pretty focused on the task at hand. Wanderlei has lost to Cro-Cop, who was expected to beat him, and Henderson, who probably wasn’t, but which wasn’t that big of a shock. I don’t know much about his mental makeup but I haven’t heard of him over-thinking things either, so I don’t see him self-destructing. So basically, this is a must-win for both fighters, and I don’t see either as having a definitive mental/emotional edge over the other.
Intangibles: The fight is going to be fought under UFC rules, in front of a UFC crowd. The rules are a disadvantage for Silva; they eliminate the soccer kicks, stomps, and strikes to a downed opponent that he’s very good at. I wouldn’t see the crowd being too much of a factor, but they’d definitely be more pro-Liddell. The intangibles favor Liddell, though it remains to be seen how important they will be.
So we end up with one advantage each for Wanderlei and Chuck, and one area that’s fairly even. The match-up’s very hard to pick, which is one of the reasons that made it always so compelling to begin with. I don’t even know who the favorite would be among knowledgeable MMA fans; either could win and it wouldn’t be a surprise. If I had to pick right now I’d give the edge to Wanderlei. Slightly. I have an enduring image of Liddell being out-struck by Jardine, and I feel that Liddell didn’t really look bad, it just seemed that other fighters may have simply caught up to him. He’ll have turned 38 by the time this fight rolls around, and even though his camp said he was at the best he’d ever been as late as May, time should catch up with him sometime, especially since as a striker, he relies more on speed and reflexes than grapplers do. That being said, I’m not saying he’s done at all. In fact, if he knocks Silva out in the first round, how many of us would be genuinely shocked? One thing is fairly certain; come December 29th, one MMA legend will have a historic win, and the other will have 3 losses in a row. It really is anyone’s guess who will be who. Which makes this fight all the more intriguing. As T.O. might say, ‘Get’cha popcorn ready…’. And I, for one, certainly will.

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