Fight Story: Axe & Ice

Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 11.14.2006

The tale of Wanderlei Silva VS Chuck Liddell

Welcome to Fight Story, the written history of Mixed Martial Arts. For those of you who don't know, Mixed Martial Arts is a growing sport that combines various kinds of combat sports into a single fight, and it makes for some of the most interesting and entertaining shows in the sports world today. If you haven't seen it yet, check out Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) or Pride Fighting Championship (PRIDE FC) shows both online and on TV. They aren't hard to find and they are great fun.

As Mixed Martial Arts or MMA is still somewhat in its infancy, there is a lot of conflict surrounding the sport. Debates on rules, contractual arguments, and of course the good old fashioned roe about who REALLY won that fight at the last Pay Per View event are all abundant scenarios, familiar to MMA fans across the internet and around the world.

My name is Damian Sarcuni and with me is my personal editor Jose Chavez. Our goal with Fight Story is a simple one: to create a written record of the various pieces of MMA's relatively short history. Fight Story explores the most interesting moments in MMA history but avoids opinionated revisionist history, as you can find plenty of that on any MMA message board. We try to be specific about our information, but more importantly, we hope to introduce new MMA fans to the amazing fighters and personalities that make up this great sport, let everyone know just how enjoyable it all is and why you, the fan, should care about each person that steps into a cage or ring.

So without further interruption let's take a look at the background behind one of the hottest topics in the world of MMA, a fight that has long been in demand and has yet to happen.


Axe & Ice: The tale of Wanderlei Silva VS Chuck Liddell.



Chapter 1 - Striker Kings

One of the best things about fighters who participate in MMA is that they are often very well rounded in various styles of fighting. It's rare to see anyone step into a professional MMA fight with experience in only one fighting style. At the same time, fighters are very self aware of what their best weapons are in the ring. Sure, someone who studies kick boxing their whole life might learn enough wrestling to help them if they are having trouble with grappling, but you can bet that fighter would like nothing more than to get back to a standing position and start throwing their fists hard.

Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell know what their best weapons are. In the 205lb. (93kg) weight class of MMA fighting, these two champions have dominated nearly all challengers by standing on their feet and throwing some of the hardest punches and strikes ever seen in professional fighting. These hard blows have brought both men to great success, with Liddell earning light heavyweight gold in America's UFC and Silva becoming the Japanese PRIDE organization's middleweight champion.

Yet there is nothing orthodox about the fighting style of these men. Silva, a Muay Thai style boxer, is known for wild aggressive striking, while Liddell is more of a counter fighting kick boxer who throws punches from all angles. Since Silva and Liddell fight on opposite parts of the world in separate organizations, fans of both men have been left to wonder what would happen if the two golden strikers were ever to meet in the same arena for a dream match. The wait may or may not soon be over though, as repeated challenges from both the fighters and their promotions have added lots speculation and media attention to the prospective bout. If the two fighter's history has anything to say about though, their meeting seems destined to happen.


Chapter 2 – From the Same Cloth



1998 was an eventful year for mixed martial arts, and significant in more ways than anyone would possibly guess. In May of that year, a younger Chuck Liddell professionally stepped into the UFC octagon for the very first time, in what would also be considered the first fight of his professional career. Spectators of the event, entitled UFC 17 – Redemption, who later recognized Chuck as career went on, often say that Chuck was nowhere near as formidable or skilled with his famous punching as he is today.

In August of that same year, Chuck went on to beat another well known fighter named Jose Lani-Jons (better known to most MMA fans as Pele) at a smaller event entitled IVC 6 – The Challenge. This fight, though early in Chuck's career, is of special interest because Pele was not only a member of Wanderlei Silva's own popular Chute Box Academy, but he was also known as one of the top striking fighters before Silva's career really took off.

Ironically, at that same event, a Brazilian fighter by the name of Wanderlei Silva also competed against noted wrestler Mike Van Arsedale. At this point, Silva had already made a splash onto the pro fight scene, sporting an impressive 4 – 1 win loss record. Van Arsedale became the 5th victim of Silva's powerful striking ability, which thus far had aided Silva in taking home all of his wins in under five minutes per match. This put Silva on the radar of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and less than two months later under the UFC flag. UFC – Ultimate Brazil was set to showcase the top Brazilian fighters throughout the land, and in a match between Silva and the Phenomenal Vitor Belfort, that is exactly what they did. Vitor rushed forward with a flurry of punches that completely overwhelmed the young Silva, putting him against the cage and down to the canvas. With no possible way to defend or fight back, the referee stopped the fight at a mere 44 seconds in the first round and Wanderlei Silva's first venture into the UFC resulted in defeat.

The next year would bring redemption however, as Silva defeated Tony Petarra at UFC 20 – Battle For the Gold on May 7th of that year. He followed this up with what was probably the most valuable move in his career, debuting in PRIDE four months later. Although Silva is renowned for his success in the PRIDE organization, his next bout resulted in one of his most infamous losses ever. On April 14th of the year 2000, Wanderlei Silva returned to the UFC to face Tito Ortiz at UFC 25 – Ultimate Japan. Silva was unable to stop the bad boy wrestler's take downs or get out from under Ortiz. This was a big loss for Silva, and it was his final match in the UFC.


Chapter 3 – Mirror Images



While Liddell certainly wasn't invisible in the years of '99 and 2000, he didn't show up on Silva's radar in most fans eyes until 2001. On May 27th of that year, Liddell knocked out Guy Mezgar of Ken Shamrock's famous Lion's Den team. This is especially interesting because not only is Guy Mezgar a prominent kick boxer in his own right, but he was also defeated by Wanderlei Silva 9 months prior to meeting Liddell. At Pride 10 – Return of the Warriors, Silva dispatched Mezgar in the first round of their bout, whereas Liddell knocked Mezgar out in the beginning of the second round.

Watching both fights shows much about both Liddell and Silva. Both men had quite a bit of trouble with Mezgar, and were unable to attack him aggressively until the end of each bout. Neither man caught Mezgar in the center of the ring; both Liddell and Silva took big hits to the head courtesy of more than one high kick from Mezgar. This is about the time when fans began to notice the striking prowess of both Silva and Liddell, and Silva added even more buzz to the fans whispers by defeating Kazushi Sakuraba to become PRIDE's first and only middleweight champion to date on November 3rd of that same year. If that wasn't enough to get the pot stirring, Liddell changed it. He put an exclamation point on the potential feud by returning to the UFC and defeating Vitor Belfort, one of the few men to hand Wanderlei Silva a loss.

Now all the hype had some real substance to it. Could Liddell, who beat a man that had no trouble with Silva at all, best the newly crowned Middleweight champion? There was no clear answer, but certainly plenty to talk about hypothetically; and while the fans did just that, Silva and Liddell got even closer to facing. At Pride Final Conflict 2003, a middleweight tournament was held which saw both Silva and Liddell as entries. Dana White, president of the UFC, brought Chuck in specifically and placed a large wager with the PRIDE organization that Liddell would indeed win it all. That night, Silva defeated the popular Hidehiko Yoshida to advance onto the second round of the tournament, despite having some trouble in finishing the Japanese Judoka.

Liddell did not have the same success. In the first round, Liddell was out struck by the charismatic and ruthless street fighter, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Liddell would later claim that he suffered from injury at the event and could not follow his planned strategy. Dana White made good on his wager with PRIDE and the two returned to the UFC. Meanwhile Jackson advanced to the next round facing none other than Wanderlei Silva himself. Though Silva was able to out strike Jackson mercilessly, he was unable to bring him down to the canvas. Jackson argued that his previous fight had made him exhausted and went on a tear, seeking to challenge Silva for his middleweight title in a single bout.

Jackson got his wish, but not before Liddell got his. In 2004, 5 months after the PRIDE tournament, Liddell was granted the opportunity to face former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz (both Liddell and Ortiz had lost to Randy Coture), who had ducked Liddell and denied him a title shot previously. Ortiz was unable to take Liddell down and attempted to stand and trade blows with him. Ortiz accidentally caught a thumb to the eye but even after several seconds, did not signal the referee for a break. Liddell smelled blood and unleashed an angry flurry of strikes at the man who had cost him the belt, and as Tito crumpled to the floor, the hype only got greater. Liddell and Silva had now both inadvertently avenged each others losses, and fan speculation got that much heavier because of it.

Silva knocked out Quinton Jackson again that same year, though he had significantly more trouble in the first round of the bout. The year would end badly for Silva though. On short notice, Silva took a fight with a heavyweight Mark Hunt and received his first PRIDE loss. Meanwhile, Liddell avenged his loss against Randy Coture and became UFC light heavyweight champion, thus matching Silva title for title. After successfully defending against Randy one last time, Liddell seemed poised to be just as dominant in the UFC as Silva was in PRIDE. The two had matched each other nearly perfectly, and the fans took notice.


Chapter 4 – Fever Pitch

The hype between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva hit an all time peak when Silva was brought out at UFC 61 to face off against Chuck Liddell. Dana White grabbed a mic as the two finally met eye to eye, promising to make the long awaited champion VS champion bout happen in the UFC. The roar of the crowd was absolutely deafening as the two strikers finally squared off, and neither man blinked or showed any sign of emotion besides absolute contempt for the other.

In the coming months, however, Dana White would report having problems working with the PRIDE organization, and the fated Silva – Liddell match up was called off. To make matters even worse, Silva suffered a devastating knockout loss to Mirko Crocop at Pride Final Conflict Absolute, an open weight tournament. Although the two had met before and battled to a draw, Mirko completely destroyed Silva with orthodox striking and soon knocked him out with a patented left high kick. In Dana White's eyes, this devalued Silva and made negotiations with PRIDE that much harder.

Silva would have none of it. On October 21st, 2006, PRIDE held a show entitled The Real Deal right in the UFC's home base of Las Vegas, Nevada. With this being PRIDE's first American show, and the growing popularity of the UFC, Silva took the opportunity to make his displeasure heard. He grabbed a mic and got in the center of the ring to announce to the fans that PRIDE would be staying in Las Vegas and so would he, until the match against Chuck Liddell was made a reality. The fans again roared in agreement. And since that time, the speculation…and foreshadowing, has continued.


Chapter 5 – Time Tells

The only thing fans really agree on in this potential match up is that they want to see it happen. As UFC fighter Brandon Vera put it, "Silva wins when he's moving forward, but Liddell wins when he's moving backward." Indeed, Silva is known for his aggression whereas Liddell is known for punishing aggressors. No one can truly say who will stand triumphant at the end of this bout, but we do know that all parties involved want to see it happen.

There is also speculation as to where the fight would happen .With PRIDE now hold shows under the Nevada State Athletic Commission's rules (similar to the rules used in the UFC) its hard to say where or when this high caliber bout would be held, never mind under which set of rules. Silva has had less success in an octagon and Liddell has had less success in a ring, and neither man seems intent on using elbows or four point knee attacks against the other.

Did Liddell watch Crocop dismantle Silva? Has Silva changed up his game plan since that loss? Can either of these men actually be knocked unconscious? The answers to these questions can only be found in a bout between the two men, and until that bout happens, this is one tale that will have a chapter which remains unwritten.




On Record

Thanks for reading the first entry of Fight Story. It's pretty easy to voice ones opinion on the growing sport of MMA and since we try to be objective in retelling the history of the sport, we sometimes get frustrated in putting the articles together. So with each article, Jose and I try to answer one question related to the topic for that article, and go on record diverse takes on issues and questions in MMA. Unless otherwise requested we'll only answer one or two questions we think of ourselves. Today's question is the obvious:

Will Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva ever fight in any promotion?

Damian: Definitely. There are so many factors that seem to get in the way of this fight. Between UFC and PRIDE's contractual issues, the rumors of Liddell planning to move to heavyweight and Silva's recent loss to Mirko Crocop, fan interest and media coverage has not waned in the slightest on either fighter. The cheers of the crowd at PRIDE Real Deal confirmed it: this is a fight the public wants to see, and with PRIDE in Vegas it's only a matter of time now.

People tend to get it in their heads that cross promotion is impossible between competing companies, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Contract stipulations can vary wildly and right now neither the media-pressured UFC nor the financially tested PRIDE has the upper hand in negotiations. Look for a good long period of talent swapping that will most likely end in a law suit, but long before that sad end happens, Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva WILL battle it out, and there will be only one winner.


Jose: Yes, I think it will happen, but it won't happen in February, not with all the legal mumbo jumbo paperwork stuff behind the scenes. There is far too much money to be made for this fight not to happen, and with PRIDE now a presence in the United States, it makes it all the more easier to make this super fight a reality. Both fighters fear no one, and live for this kind of pressure: the pressure to perform, to show that they are the best and to show their promotion is the best. I think, eventually, that both organizations can compromise somehow. That's all there really is to say.