Liddell vs Franklin, who you backing?

I just saw a pic of Liddell from his training camp and he looks in better shape than he has his whole career. Dude is seriously ripped... I though he would beat Rich Anyway but after seeing this Im more sure.


Cant post pics in work but heres the link...

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/5/31/1495340/snapshot-of-the-day-chuck-liddell

Best shape he has ever been in?

Franklin is a good fighter, he gave Wanderlei a 50-50 fight and won, Chuck Did a Little better against him. Also Chuck was beating Evans before the KO and I think he can outstrike Franklin because of his Reach and Power advantage... if he is in shape hopefully he will have a higher strike output and a bit of speed...

Anyone see Franklin winning?

This is a pretty poor card tallentwise but this fight is guarenteed to entertain as well as a few others, really looking forward to 115 now. Barry vs Crocop will also be a war!

I'm backing Chuck for this one.

I don't think Rich can handle Chucks power and although chucks chin will always be a question mark now,I don't think Rich has the power to drop Chuck,like the way Shogun,Rampage and Evans did.

I think it will start off as a very tentative fight with each fighter using kicks and jabs with plenty of movement,untill chuck lands something,then I see him swarming Rich with a barrage of punches and then I see Rich taking a short nap.

Chuck's losses of late have been against Evans who went on to become champion and just beat Rampage who beat Chuck twice, and Shogun who is now champion and also holds a win over Rampage. The loss to Jardine was clearly a fight he wasn't up for. I think Chuck is done as a top level fighter but he should beat Franklin.

Difficult fight to call, but i guarantee you that if Chuck wins everyone is going to harp on about how poor and overated Rich is, and if Chuck loses he's done, he should retire, he was never really that good etc......

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Is that Court Mcgee in the picture with him?

He looks great to be fair but ofcoarse im going to have to side with Franklin on this one. I disagree that Chuck was better against Wandy than Franklin was, Franklin was never dropped in the fight once. Wandy should have finished Liddell but for some reason didn't.

I still think Liddell doesn't have the speed he used to have and his chin is completely gone. The shot that Shogun hit him with was nothing special, I could see it coming a mile away and it didn't have much power behind it. Even he admitted in his prime, he would have taken it. If Franklin lands a shot on Liddell like the one he hit Quarry with, you'll bet Liddell will be going to sleep. Rich will be a lot quicker in the face and much better conditioned. Extra muscle gasses you out quicker, Liddell has never had poor conditioning but its not great either. Franklin has some of the best conditioning in MMA today.

The fight will stay standing the whole time I think, but if it does go to the ground Franklin has better BJJ and Liddell will have better wrestling.

I expect Liddell to go all out, win the first round maybe even dropping Franklin. But then, the layoff and muscle will tire him out and Franklin will pick him around for the remainder of the two rounds.

Come on Chelsea,I was expecting you to stick up for your boy Franklin with a bit more gusto than that,you know like Shit,chinny Chuck will be lucky to make it out of rd 1 or franklins gonna retire the old git

and not well I think and hope Chuck gasses after he's knocked my boy around the cage for a Rd


me thinks deep down your not very confident in Rich pulling this one off

Honestly i'm not overly confident that Franklin will win but I will never pick against my favourite fighters no matter how unlikely it is. If Lil Evil had to fight Brock Lesnar in an OW bout, I'd probably still pick Pulver

But all bias aside, I still think Rich has a good chance to win this fight.This fight will either go like Franklin vs Wandy or Franklin vs Belfort. One round, if Rich escapes it I think he has a great chance to win the fight. Personally I don't see Franklin letting Liddell go out. I also think he will push the pace and tire Liddell out. He needs to keep the distance with kicks and jabs. Liddell WILL get tired, he has been inactive for what? more than a year and when he does its Rich's game. Franklin's never been a guy who comes straight out and KOs you in a round so I wouldn't expect that, but I can very easily see a late stoppage or a UD win.

Chuck comprehensively beat Wanderlei who was in great shape for the fight.

Franklin struggled to a disputed decision against a Wandi who messed up his cut to a new weight and gassed in the second round.

Chuck looked much better against Wandi than Franklin did,


Franklin has never landed another punch even close to the one he hit Quarry with since that fight so there's no reason for Chuck to worry about getting KO'd. And at least when Chuck got KO'd by Evans and Shogun it was with solid punches, not a glancing blow to the forehead like Vitor KO'd Rich with. Rich has been KO'd a number of times himself. His chin is no better than Chucks.

Liddell to KO Franklin in the second.

Yeah,this is no walk in the park for Chuck,I think he will win though but your dead right,the long lay off will do a 40 year old fighter zero favours and if Rich can fight a smart fight and stay away from Chucks bombs for 2 rds,(which he wont )I could see Chucks cardio leaving him in the 3rd.

Let's not forget that Franklin is 35 and the last time he fought for more than 3 minutes was a year ago, he won't be at his sharpest either.

good point

Franklin's always been great shape, his conditioning is fantastic.

Wandy won one round against Liddell and almost finished him. Twice. First time he dropped him and the second Liddell took him down to avoid getting Koed.

Franklin won all three rounds comfortably.

I'll give you Evans, that was a ridiculous shot. Shogun's punch was nothing, everyone but chuck could see it coming a mile away and it wasn't even a hard one.

Franklin has been KOed. Ye by Machida, Silva twice and Belfort. Not the worst list of fighters to get stopped by. His whole face has never been the same since the fights with Silva but his chin won't be as bad as Liddell.

The punch Shogun dropped Chuck with would have dropped 90% of fighters. Franklin got dropped by a glancing blow from Belfort.

Liddell took Silva down to prove a point, nothing to do with avoiding anything. Chuck had said for years that if their was one fighter he would use his wrestling against it was Wandi. He was never in danger of losing that fight. He had Silva wobbled countless times and won a clear decision. Wanderlei almost finished Franklin in the second round of their fight. And again, that was a Wandi who messed up his cut, gassed in the second round, and then took months off to get his nose fixed(after fighting against medical advice because he could breath through his nose). Franklin fought probably the worst Wandi ever and was incredibly lucky to come away with a disputed decision.

As for Franklin's conditioning, he hasn't fought a full fight in a year, he's now 35 and no matter who you are, the older you get the smaller the gas tank gets.

I dont agree or even consider for a second Rich is going to have Cardio problems, but to be fair I dont see Cardio coming into this, Liddell is bigger a better Striker and hits harder... and both mens chin have come into question so its not a matter or Chuck being Chinny or not.... Chuck has only been KO'd by Bombs recently I dont think Franklin will KO him... Liddell has the far better chance of landing the KO and like I said CArdio is fairly irrelevant both men can push the pace for 15mins is needs be as the Wanderlei fights showed.

And come on WAnderlei vs Rich wawsnt 3 clear rounds to Rich! I dont agree with Anfield about Rich's cardio being any sort of problem but he is spot on about the Wanderlei performances, Wanderlei was weight drained against Rich and it was a 50/50 fight, the decision was debated and disputed by many fans... you may say Wand dropped Liddell but he clearly lost... I remember it being gutting to watch

I'm not saying Rich will gas, i'm saying that at 35 he's not going to come out and push a Diego Sanchez type pace. Liddell will be able to stay with him no problems.

Yeah No one is going to push the pace so much they Gass Liddell, that just doesnt really seem to happen, Apart from Jardine... but that was just a strange fight were Chuck really want himself...

Jesus you think he would want to settle the score with Jardine thinking about it.

Itd be cool if Liddell wins, Id love to see him fight Vera or someone insted of getting pushed straight back into top level competition, Him vs Forrest was talked about ages ago...

The punch that Shogun hit would also have been blocked by 90% of fighters. Even he said he should have been able to take it and his prime would have.

A blow to the forehead isn't the same as a shot the chin though. And Belfort has a lot of power.

Wandy never came close to finishing Franklin, he rocked him slightly but it was nothing, he didn't drop or anything. He full on dropped Liddell and should have finished him from there. There are also like 5 or 6 fights where Wandy came in and was worse

Bisping
Arona
Hunt
Ortiz
Belfort
Rampage

I had Liddell winning 29-28 in that fight and I had Franklin 30-27, possibly 29-28. Either way I didn't see either of them get a dominating win, all three rounds were close for both Franklin and Liddell. Wandy might have clearly lost to Liddell but he clearly lost to Franklin as well.

I'm not sure how it was a 50-50 fight honestly, there was nothing contreversial about it. Clear victory for Rich IMO.

I'd say wandi started the stronger and took the early lead but then Rich started to come back strong and flustered and threw Wandi off his rhythm,then Rich took advantage a won the match

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Honestly i'm not overly confident that Franklin will win but I will never pick against my favourite fighters no matter how unlikely it is. If Lil Evil had to fight Brock Lesnar in an OW bout, I'd probably still pick Pulver

Looks like you won't have to pick Lil Evil against anyone now mate,well atleast not in the WEC.

Ending speculation, Dana White confirmed Saturday to MMA Fighting that Jens Pulver has been released by Zuffa.
A report first surfaced nearly two weeks ago that the World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight, a former UFC champion and longtime fan favorite, had been let go. However, Pulver's agent, Monte Cox, told Versus.com that he hoped his client would remain with the company in a broadcasting capacity.
But White, Zuffa's president, said following the UFC 114 press conference on Saturday that will not be the case.
"He has been released," White said. "We had talked about Jens being a part of the WEC somehow, but he's not broadcasting."

Better he retires, he finished his career so badly, a real shaddow of his former self. Shame his career went that way because he was a real future Hall of Famer...

I wouldnt mind seeing him beat down a few lower ranked guys though It would gut me to see him loosing again. Better for him to retire now if he is financially well enough off.

yeah,I think it's time he hangs up his mitts and start putting all his effort into training other fighters.

Though If he hasn't the finances to stop and can't support his family on a trainers salary,I'm sure he could maybe think about trying one last stint over in Japan.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:The punch that Shogun hit would also have been blocked by 90% of fighters. Even he said he should have been able to take it and his prime would have.

A blow to the forehead isn't the same as a shot the chin though. And Belfort has a lot of power.

Wandy never came close to finishing Franklin, he rocked him slightly but it was nothing, he didn't drop or anything. He full on dropped Liddell and should have finished him from there. There are also like 5 or 6 fights where Wandy came in and was worse

Bisping
Arona
Hunt
Ortiz
Belfort
Rampage

I had Liddell winning 29-28 in that fight and I had Franklin 30-27, possibly 29-28. Either way I didn't see either of them get a dominating win, all three rounds were close for both Franklin and Liddell. Wandy might have clearly lost to Liddell but he clearly lost to Franklin as well.

I'm not sure how it was a 50-50 fight honestly, there was nothing contreversial about it. Clear victory for Rich IMO.

Wandi never gassed like he did against Franklin. All you've done there is pick his losses and claim he was worse than against Franklin. He wasn't. He was in better shape for all those fights than he was against Franklin.

A lot of people thought Wandi beat Franklin. Nobody thought he beat Chuck.

Show me where Chuck said that. Complete bolox to suggest most fighters would have blocked that punch.

And a GLANCING blow to the forehead is nothing like a full force shot to the chin.

I still cant tell which exact shot dropped Rich against Belfort.