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[Moosehead]

Just a question, but does anyone feel that it's kinda odd that Chuck hasn't defended his title against a fighter he has never faced before? Tito will be his fifth rematch in a row. 4 title defence.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's easier to defend against a guy you already know, rather than a fresh fighter that you haven't delt with.

Will he fight Monson next, or maybe Liddell vs Horn 3? settle the score?

[dagreat1]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

Just a question, but does anyone feel that it's kinda odd that Chuck hasn't defended his title against a fighter he has never faced before? Tito will be his fifth rematch in a row. 4 title defence.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's easier to defend against a guy you already know, rather than a fresh fighter that you haven't delt with.

Will he fight Monson next, or maybe Liddell vs Horn 3? settle the score?

It is unfortunate but not odd because we must look further into the situation and the reasoning behind it.

The UFC is not bottom heavy in any divisions, they are top heavy in each division with 3-4 great fighters in each division and the HW division is less than that and the LW division is haping up to be top and bottom heay and is looking to be by far their most impressive division talent wise.

The only fighters Chuck could face would be rashad or Bisping. I don't think the fans are ready for a Forrest vs Chuck fight, Foorrest is too sloppy right now.

Unfortunately, the UFC does not have an iron man type fighter at 205 like Pride's Fujita (HW division but he is being used as an example), someone that is not phenomenal but is a really solid fighter that is a huge test to gauge the talent of the other fighters (like A. Silva vs Leben but on a higher level than Fujita) so if the UFC were to throw Rashad Evans into a fight with Chuck right now that could prove to be a huge mistake as it is not wise to throw your future LHW champion and future phenomenal fighter to the wolves before he is entirely developped or at least semi developed.

They could get people from outside of the UFC, they could've gone after Rampage, Machida (the guy who KOed Rich Franklin when Franklin used to fight at 205) or Melvin Manhoef. ALL of those fighters would give Chuck some of the most difficult fights of his career.

Rampage handed Chuck the worst loss of his career in 03 and is a goos boxer with freakish strength and wrestling along with an iron chin.

Machida has very good striking and a phenomenal ground game.

Melvin Manhoef is a pehnomenal striker with a kickboxing background, he is short but he is devistating with his hands and feet.

The UFC would like to continue their success and having Chuck OR Tito in the driver's seat is the best thing for them so they would love to keep it that way.

I think in terms of them setting up poor opponents for Chuck to fight, that is not the case, they simply avoid signing the great 205lb strikers so that they do not have to duck a Chuck vs striker fight or at least it seems that way to me. Given the right striker, the UFC would not care if Chuck was champion or not, I think Rampage would be an immediate crowd favorite and would love to see him join the UFC.

[Moosehead]

Originally Posted by dagreat1

It is unfortunate but not odd because we must look further into the situation and the reasoning behind it.

The UFC is not bottom heavy in any divisions, they are top heavy in each division with 3-4 great fighters in each division and the HW division is less than that and the LW division is haping up to be top and bottom heay and is looking to be by far their most impressive division talent wise.

The only fighters Chuck could face would be rashad or Bisping. I don't think the fans are ready for a Forrest vs Chuck fight, Foorrest is too sloppy right now.

Unfortunately, the UFC does not have an iron man type fighter at 205 like Pride's Fujita (HW division but he is being used as an example), someone that is not phenomenal but is a really solid fighter that is a huge test to gauge the talent of the other fighters (like A. Silva vs Leben but on a higher level than Fujita) so if the UFC were to throw Rashad Evans into a fight with Chuck right now that could prove to be a huge mistake as it is not wise to throw your future LHW champion and future phenomenal fighter to the wolves before he is entirely developped or at least semi developed.

They could get people from outside of the UFC, they could've gone after Rampage, Machida (the guy who KOed Rich Franklin when Franklin used to fight at 205) or Melvin Manhoef. ALL of those fighters would give Chuck some of the most difficult fights of his career.

Rampage handed Chuck the worst loss of his career in 03 and is a goos boxer with freakish strength and wrestling along with an iron chin.

Machida has very good striking and a phenomenal ground game.

Melvin Manhoef is a pehnomenal striker with a kickboxing background, he is short but he is devistating with his hands and feet.

The UFC would like to continue their success and having Chuck OR Tito in the driver's seat is the best thing for them so they would love to keep it that way.

I think in terms of them setting up poor opponents for Chuck to fight, that is not the case, they simply avoid signing the great 205lb strikers so that they do not have to duck a Chuck vs striker fight or at least it seems that way to me. Given the right striker, the UFC would not care if Chuck was champion or not, I think Rampage would be an immediate crowd favorite and would love to see him join the UFC.

Do you think it makes Liddell's title run a little weak? At least weaker than other champions? Do you think that Liddell might have lost the title by now if he fought guys that he had never faced before?

[dagreat1]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

Do you think it makes Liddell's title run a little weak? At least weaker than other champions? Do you think that Liddell might have lost the title by now if he fought guys that he had never faced before?

It tarnishes it for me because fo the fact that he is not facing strikers. His resume is very impressive, he has defeated some of the best fighters in the world, my only knock is that is 90% of those fighters were grapplers and wrestlers so if you look in terms of Couture defeating Tito, that is a huge victory but if you look at Chuck vs Couture or Chuck vs Tito is not as impressive because Chuck has such phenomenal takedown defense so in order to match Chuck, you must defeat him at his own game which is striking and those wrestlers and grapplers are average strikers.

Chuck fought 3 times in Pride and defeated Mezger in a war where Mezger and Chuck were both landing huge shots. Defeated Allistar Overeem in a fight in which Chuck was getting dominated, Overeem is 6'-5" and throws huge knee strikes, he had Chuck really hurt and Chuck was seemingly an inch away from crumbling and falling over but overeem gassed out and Chuck, on the verge of defeat sinced Overeem was tired and somehow mounted some offense and landed a huge looping right hand. His 3rd and final fight in Pride was in 03 where he was supposed to meet Wanderlei Silva in the finals but he had to get by Rampage first and Rampaged owned him for 2 rounds brutally. He punished Chuck in the standup, took him to the ground, slammed him, punished him some more in the standup, Chuck eventually folded in round 2 and Rampage punished Chucks ribs and then mounted Chuck and Chuck's corner threw in the towel.

If Chuck were fighting more quality strikers like in his 3 Pride fights where he could've very easily gone 0-3, there is a great chance that he would've lost the title by now.

I would venture to say the same thing with Silva as Lil Nog, Overeem, Shogun Igor are all great strikers.

I think the only champion that is suited to defeat anyone with ANY fighting style or well rounded game, is Fedor and he is the only one who has proven that.

[The Iceman]

Who do you want him to fight? I'm pretty sure he will fight anybody who wants to fight but it's up to the UFC (Dana White)to make the fight's happen. As far as Chuck's title run being weak....um NO. Even though some fights have been repeated you need to check his resume he's beaten almost every fighter put in front of him and when he beats them it's usually by KO. Also correct me if I am wrong but I think he was 2-1 over in Pride so it's not like he's winning just because he is in the UFC. You also have to think about this, everybody that Chuck has fought was on top of thier game and deserved a title shot. Babalu was on a winning streak the second time around,Couture couldn't be beat by anyone in the LHW division except for him,Horn beat him the first time around and Tito's on a two fight winning streak. If you look at it that way it has to make a little sense. I am tired of the re-matches and re,re-matches also but until the UFC opens thier wallet it's going to continue to go on like this.

[Dork8503]

yeah, specailly if tito wins then we are going to see tito chuck 3 probally right away, ufc needs to get the title off chuck to have better fights or bring in people like ramapage, but if its true that pride is hurting then it wont be long before ufc picks up someone there fighters if it is indeed true that there hurting

[b0sH]

A lot of fair points made tbh.
I dont think Chuck in any way shape or form ducks fighting strikers they just arent there to be put up against him. The UFC doesnt have depth in its LHW division at the moment, however I think this will begin to change in '07 quite rapidly. Pride, although talking big and putting together american shows do seem to be in a bit of trouble with rumours of UFC shelling out massively to lure away some of their top tier talent, although UFC may have been paying there fighters less in the past they may also have rounded up the funds to now pull away other fighters. Dunno time will tell.

[Moosehead]

Originally Posted by dagreat1

It tarnishes it for me because fo the fact that he is not facing strikers. His resume is very impressive, he has defeated some of the best fighters in the world, my only knock is that is 90% of those fighters were grapplers and wrestlers so if you look in terms of Couture defeating Tito, that is a huge victory but if you look at Chuck vs Couture or Chuck vs Tito is not as impressive because Chuck has such phenomenal takedown defense so in order to match Chuck, you must defeat him at his own game which is striking and those wrestlers and grapplers are average strikers.

Chuck fought 3 times in Pride and defeated Mezger in a war where Mezger and Chuck were both landing huge shots. Defeated Allistar Overeem in a fight in which Chuck was getting dominated, Overeem is 6'-5" and throws huge knee strikes, he had Chuck really hurt and Chuck was seemingly an inch away from crumbling and falling over but overeem gassed out and Chuck, on the verge of defeat sinced Overeem was tired and somehow mounted some offense and landed a huge looping right hand. His 3rd and final fight in Pride was in 03 where he was supposed to meet Wanderlei Silva in the finals but he had to get by Rampage first and Rampaged owned him for 2 rounds brutally. He punished Chuck in the standup, took him to the ground, slammed him, punished him some more in the standup, Chuck eventually folded in round 2 and Rampage punished Chucks ribs and then mounted Chuck and Chuck's corner threw in the towel.

If Chuck were fighting more quality strikers like in his 3 Pride fights where he could've very easily gone 0-3, there is a great chance that he would've lost the title by now.

I would venture to say the same thing with Silva as Lil Nog, Overeem, Shogun Igor are all great strikers.

I think the only champion that is suited to defeat anyone with ANY fighting style or well rounded game, is Fedor and he is the only one who has proven that.

yes, but we are talking about title defences, and they all have been against Fighters he has beat, and already knows there weakness.

[Moosehead]

Originally Posted by The Iceman

Who do you want him to fight? I'm pretty sure he will fight anybody who wants to fight but it's up to the UFC (Dana White)to make the fight's happen. As far as Chuck's title run being weak....um NO. Even though some fights have been repeated you need to check his resume he's beaten almost every fighter put in front of him and when he beats them it's usually by KO. Also correct me if I am wrong but I think he was 2-1 over in Pride so it's not like he's winning just because he is in the UFC. You also have to think about this, everybody that Chuck has fought was on top of thier game and deserved a title shot. Babalu was on a winning streak the second time around,Couture couldn't be beat by anyone in the LHW division except for him,Horn beat him the first time around and Tito's on a two fight winning streak. If you look at it that way it has to make a little sense. I am tired of the re-matches and re,re-matches also but until the

Pride is not what i'm talking about, read.

All his title defences have been against guys he has already beat (except HOrn, but he lost early in his carrear.) . It's not his fault, but it's true. He has an advantage against those fighters, he knows them and I feel that if he faught 5 guys at his skill level that he never faced before, he would not have won every match.

[Afro]

Moosehead is 100% right, its not Chucks fault but hes fought a bunch of wrestlers and other then Randy Couture and Babalu no one really good.. but these guys all play to Chucks strength either way.

I mean Horn and Vernon White? gimme a break