The Rear Naked Column 10.02.09: Fallen Heroes (Part 2)

Posted by Samer Kadi on 10.02.2009

Widely considered the two greatest light heavyweights of all time, Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva have both experienced a big fall from grace in the past couple of years. Both fighters have lost four of their last five fights, and questions have emerged as to whether the pair still has a place among the world’s elite. Join 411’s Samer Kadi as he breaks down the future of two of the sport’s all time greats.

As mentioned in last week's column, 2009 hasn't been a very kind year for some of the true legends in Mixed Martial Arts. We've previously discussed the fall of two of the greatest heavyweights of all time in Randy Couture and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic as they both tasted defeat at the hands of Minotauro Nogueira and Junior Dos Santos respectively.

The latter's performance in particular was hapless. Cro Cop looked a mere shell of the once terrifying PRIDE headhunter, as the younger, hungrier Dos Santos controlled the action from start to finish, while Filipovic resorted to repeated clinching in a desperate attempt to buy – if not kill – time.

For his part, Randy Couture's performance against Nogueira was a true testament to his stoutheartedness. Although the manner in which "The Natural" was outclassed raised some question marks regarding his ability to compete with the sport's elite at this stage of his career.

Two men Couture and Cro Cop know all too well have suffered a similar fate this year.

For years, Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva sat comfortably on their individual light heavyweight thrones, tearing through the UFC and PRIDE 205 pound weight classes in highlight reel fashion. With contenders knocked off with ease, a superfight between the pair was thought to be the logical next step. As politics stood in the way, things took an unexpected turn shortly after as Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson sent shockwaves through the MMA world by dethroning the longtime title holders in devastating fashion.

For Liddell and Silva, it has been a downhill ride since. They would go on to drop all but one of their next four fights, with Liddell's only win coming against Silva himself in their much anticipated battle, while Wanderlei's hammering of Keith Jardine reminded fans and pundits never to write off an Axe Murderer.

But with both fighters coming off back to back losses, questions have emerged as to whether they could still compete at the highest level. UFC president Dana White has stopped just short of forcing Liddell into retirement (who remains undecided on the issue), while Wanderlei Silva declared his intentions to carry on fighting and is expected to make his middleweight debut early next year.

As a longtime fan of Wanderlei Silva, I truly hope he could rejuvenate his career in the middleweight division, but that could prove to be wishful thinking above anything else. Realistically, does Silva still belong in the Octagon taking on the best fighters in the world? What about his longtime nemesis, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell?

Wanderlei Silva:

There was a time when Wanderlei Silva was a head shaking, wrist rolling, soccer kicking, and Thai clinching knockout machine, considered the most feared fighter on the planet. From September 1999 to December 2004, Silva went unbeaten in PRIDE, toppling names like Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Quinton Jackson along the way. Silva held the PRIDE middleweight title (205 lbs) for five years before surrendering the belt to a Dan Henderson left hook.

A very controversial loss to heavyweight behemoth Mark Hunt and a flat performance against Ricardo Arona in the 2005 middleweight Grand Prix could be forgiven, but it wasn't until Cro Cop's thrashing of Silva in the 2006 OWGP that people began wondering if the Axe Murderer was starting to slow down a step or two.

You can't fault Silva for taking part in the Open Weight Grand Prix – he's not one to back away from a challenge – but he made a mistake in bulking up for the tournament and gaining a little too much weight, which slowed him down considerably. The result was brutal knockout loss to Cro Cop, and truth be told, Wanderlei hasn't been the same fighter since.

At 33 years of age, Silva has been through more wars than 40+ year old fighters like Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. Battles with the likes of Mirko Cro Cop (the first fight) and Mark Hunt, where Silva took some serious leather, were bound to show their effects at one point or another, and bare knuckle fighting in Brazil surely didn't help. Repeated knockout losses to Cro Cop, Henderson and Rampage further took away from Silva's longevity in the sport.

With Wanderlei's aggressive and often reckless style, having a good chin and recovering ability are vital, as he is likely to get tagged at one point or another. Throughout his career, Silva was notorious for his great recovery. The first Dan Henderson fight, the second Rampage fight and the Mark Hunt fight are a testament to that. Wanderlei could afford to brawl as he could dish it out and take it in an equally impressive manner.



These days, Wanderlei could ill afford to take a heavy punch to the chin as it would more often than not signal the end of the bout. People often underestimate the effects of the multiple battles a fighter has to endure throughout the course of his career, but Silva is a prime example of what cumulative punishment can do to a fighter, even one of Silva's caliber. Not only has it affected his ability to take punches, it also has hindered his explosiveness and punching power.

This was evident in the Rich Franklin fight as despite a decent performance from Wanderlei, he looked noticeably slower, less explosive, and had Rich hurt on a couple of occasions but didn't come realistically close to finishing the fight, which is highly unusual for a fighter renowned for having the best killer instinct in MMA.

We must also not ignore the difference between fighting in PRIDE and the UFC. The ring, as well as the PRIDE rules significantly favor Silva's predatory style. Wanderlei is often aggressive from the get-go and immediately stalks his opponents looking for the kill. Wanderlei can use the ring to his advantage, cutting off all angles and trapping his opponents down in the corners. Watch any Silva highlight, and notice the amount of action happening in the corners or against the ropes. Add to that the illegal nature of the stomps and soccer kicks in the UFC, and you're basically taking an axe away from the Axe Murderer.



Another factor that can't be overlooked is the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts. Similar to any sport, no athlete can stay on top forever. Often times due to age and injuries, but most importantly due to the natural evolution of the sport itself. Fighting technically and under a strict gameplan was never a part of Wanderlei Silva as a fighter, which in part is what makes him so exciting. But it also makes him more vulnerable, especially at this stage of his career. The Rampage fight at UFC 92 was an alarm bell if there ever was one. Quinton is a fighter who got absolutely mauled by Silva on two different occasions. But with improved technical boxing, he was able to crack Silva's defense with a textbook counter left hook.



At this point, it would be too optimistic to expect Wanderlei to start dominating fights by utilizing his jab and some nifty footwork. So has the sport totally surpassed him? In my opinion, no.

I'm not ready to admit that Wanderlei should call it a day quite yet. While he did look sloppy (more so than usual) and slow in the Rich Franklin fight, he still showed he could compete at the highest level as long as his opponent can't end his night with one punch. The fight was very close and Wanderlei more than held his own. We mustn't forget this was Silva's first time cutting weight which makes a substantial difference, and it could have affected his performance considerably.

While I don't expect him to regain his championship form, a move to the middleweight division was the right decision to make. Should he master the art of cutting weight and regain some of his explosiveness, Silva could be an overwhelming prospect for most middleweights to deal with, as few of them have the punching power of some the UFC light heavyweights, and even fewer have dealt with someone with Wanderlei's power. Unfortunately, three fighters I can't see Silva troubling are Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva, and they happen to be at the top of the division.

With that out of the way, let's shift focus to MMA's biggest ever superstar, former longtime UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell.

Chuck Liddell:

For a long time, the image of a badass in blue shorts and a Mohawk knocking people out used to be the first thing to spring to people's minds when you utter the words "Ultimate Fighting Championship".

In many ways, Chuck Liddell revolutionized the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Following an early career submission loss to Jeremy Horn at UFC 19, Chuck Liddell decided to avoid the ground game at all costs. Using a strong wrestling base, Liddell developed some of the best takedown defense in MMA to compliment his kickboxing skills. By doing so, Chuck became a wrestler's kryptonite, with only Randy Couture (in their initial bout) enjoying success against the Iceman.

Following the first Couture fight and a tough loss at the 2003 PRIDE middleweight Grand Prix to Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell would embark on a journey of domination, starting with his knockout of arch rival Tito Ortiz in April 2004. During Chuck's incredible tear from 2004 to 2007, not one of his opponents managed to go the distance. Few dared to strike with him, and others struggled to take him down. The sight of the Iceman and his now familiar victory celebration had become a common one.



That all ended on May 26th 2007, when Quinton Jackson (the last man to have defeated Liddell up until that point) knocked the Iceman out in the first round to capture the UFC light heavyweight title.



For Liddell, it has been one disappointment after the other since –save from his epic battle with Wanderlei Silva– as he would go on to drop a frustrating decision loss to Keith Jardine before suffering back to back knockouts at the hands of Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua.

Chuck Liddell, aside from being a great fighter, was at the right place at the right time. He not only was the superstar when the UFC desperately needed one, but he also developed the perfect style for that time. Following the resurgence of dominant wrestlers in the UFC, Chuck Liddell became the anti-wrestler. He used his wrestling defensively the keep the fights standing where he could make the most of his striking, highlighted by a dynamite right hand and punches dropping down from odd angles that nobody seemed able to figure out. Liddell became the ultimate counterpuncher. With an astounding ability to generate power while moving backwards, Liddell's punches were knocking people out from seemingly everywhere.



So how did Chuck go from becoming the most dominant light heavyweight in the sport to a guy who's dropped four of his last five fights?

Well for starters, unlike Silva who's 33 but with a body of a 40 year old man, Chuck is actually a 40 year old man (well, almost). The Rampage Jackson knockout loss not only affected Chuck mentally and physically (his chin was cracked afterwards), it also opened a lot of people's eyes: Trying to take Chuck Liddell down, can only lead to a knockout. Going after a counterpuncher like Liddell is a bad idea. Jardine utilized some vicious leg kicks to chomp Liddell down, while Rashad Evans, to the surprise of everyone chose to stand with The Iceman and knocked him out with a brutal counter overhand right.

Not only is Chuck older, slower, and doesn't have the chin to take that sort of punches anymore, but people have also figured out his style. Jardine, Rashad and more recently Shogun, were able to see Chuck's punches coming, dodged them, and countered. Rua's strategy was a mixture of Jardine and Rashad's, as he landed numerous leg kicks on Liddell but was also patient as he countered with some nice overhand rights before finishing him off with a lunging left hook. By Liddell's own admission, that was a shot he should have been able to take, if you needed further proof that his chin can no longer take that sort of damage.

With a fairly predictable style nowadays, and no viable options, it's tough to see where Chuck could go from here. He's too big to drop down in weight, and a move to the heavyweight division could be suicidal. He's still good enough to beat B level fighters, but does he stand a realistic chance against Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson or any of the top guys (A lot of whom have defeated him already)?

If Chuck wants one last fight, let him have it, but his opponent should be chosen very carefully. A nostalgia fight with Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture or even Wanderlei Silva would be a nice farewell party, but I don't believe The Iceman can do much else at this point in time.

This week's column has brought a topic to my attention. Who's the greatest light heavyweight of all time? Is it Chuck Liddell? Is it Wanderlei Silva? Someone else, maybe Rampage? Have your say about this in the comments section below, I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts. Maybe it could serve as the subject for a future column.