Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell speaks out about his upcoming opponent, Keith Jardine, for UFC 76. Liddell explains to MMA fans out there that he "never hand-picks his opponents."
After numerous attempts of a dream match between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell fell through, Keith Jardine was chosen to be Chuck's opponent for UFC 76. Rumors then began to surface about Chuck ducking UFC newcomer Hayato Sakurai and hand-picking Keith Jardine for UFC 76.
Reports had also stated that Chuck was offered matchups against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Kazauhiro Nakamura, Lyoto Machida or Keith Jardine.
Liddell spoke to MMAWeekly.com denying all allegations about hand-picking Jardine and/or ducking opponents.
Liddell told MMAWeekly this:"I've never hand-picked an opponent. I'm not going to. There would be no reason to hand-pick Jardine. The only time I've ever asked for a guy is when I asked to fight Kevin Randleman because I wanted to fight a guy that had a name at the time because they kept giving me guys as little known as I was. I think that's the only time I've ever asked for someone specifically."
Sounds rather convincing to me. Chuck Liddell has never seemed the type to "choose" or duck opponents. Liddell has beaten a who's who of fighters and I find it hard to believe that he'd start backing out of fights now.
"They talked to me about fighting Wanderlei in September, and I said, 'Yeah, that's fine. Cool. Perfect.' Then I heard it fell out. I assumed they were going to put me with Shogun [Rua] because I knew he was on the same card. I figured they would put me with Shogun, but they came to me and said they wanted me to fight Keith. I'm not complaining. I don't argue with people about who I'm going to fight. I fight whoever they tell me to."
UFC 76: Knockout is scheduled for September 22, 2007 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Other confirmed fights on the card include light heavyweight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's debut against Forrest Griffin as well as a welterweight showdown between Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez and Jon Fitch.
The Lianger
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Chuck Liddell Talks Keith Jardine
Posted by Masson Liang at 10:03 AM
Tags: Chuck Liddell, Hayato Sakurai, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Keith Jardine, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, UFC, Wanderlei Silva
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9 Comments:
I figured I'd drop myself a comment or two to get you guys going.
Contrary to what one may think, this fight is actually pretty big for Liddell. A loss to Jardine would be a pretty big setback for Liddell.
Liddell being one of my favorite fighters, I really hope to see him KO Jardine in brutal fashion within the first round.
Please let the year of the upset come to an end.
I agree. While I don't necessarily like this fight, I think it's because I'm subconciously worried that Liddell will lose by freak KO and be knocked further down the pecking order. I just want him to start beating some real guys so we can watch Rampage, Hendo, Liddell, and Shogun duke it out for the next 5 glorious years.
Amen. Liddell is getting older and he does not need to be wasting his time fighting small time boys.
Liddell needs to take advantage of the years he's got left in him to further the legacy of his name in the UFC. He needs to face Shogun, Hendo, etc. fast!
Yeah, too bad that Lidell needs to win this in like the first 30 seconds otherwise hes not even as good as Houston. Anyway good shit "Lianger". Wish this site didn't have WWE stuff on it, otherwise I'd subscribe to get the lastest updates.
You should know that there will no longer be ANY wrestling posted on the main page and the WWE content is being downsized to one tab.
Thanks for visiting!
Any person can beat anyother person at any given time! On the other hand to even put Jardine in a cage with Chuck is silly. Jardine is to flat footed to fight Chuck. He will shuffle in to Chucks range and then its lights out. This is more of a glorified sparring match. Chuck by KO round one if it hits the second its just because Chuck is ensuring victory by feeling Jardine out.
Well, I'd really hope so. Chuck cannot afford to lose to Jardine...
While Jardine could afford a win or a loss to The Iceman
This may be a fast fight, but I beleive that if Jardine was to beat Liddell then, like Rampage, his career would simply skyrocket. Liddell needs to win this to redeem his name, and Jardine needs to win this to become a real celeberty in the UFC
chuck made a mistake with rampage and just got cought with his hands down. I garentee that will not happen again. Jardine is nothing like rampage. Hes too slow. Chuck is better being defensive rather than offensive. He will catch him coming in. As for shogun and everyone else, its just a matter of time. chuck will knock em all out
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