Why UFC 71 is so important to Chuck Liddell and the UFC

I saw this story on With Leather and it’s almost as bad as the HISTORY of Pauly’s. My favorite part is the asshole former star hockey player:

Scott Randles was a hockey star at his high school before he took his obsession with helmet boxing too far.

"Looking back, it is the stupidest thing I ever did, because it changed everything," Randles said.

"Sometimes I blank out, and I go look at the clock and it'll be two minutes later or something, and it's a lot harder to learn stuff and it's a lot harder to remember things."

Yeah? You blank out and next thing you know it’s two minutes later? Holy fucking shit! Not only is it hard for him to “learn stuff,” but he apparently now has the ability to travel to the future.

There is no doubt in my mind that anyone who would become “obsessed” with “helmet boxing” was born with a difficulty in the learning and retaining department. I’m willing to bet the kid was dumb before he ever got knocked in the head. It’s like somebody being born with no arms saying it really became hard to juggle once he went blind.

And if you watch the video you’ll hear this gem: “It’s like running into a wall with a helmet on – you’re still running into the wall.”

?

….

?

No shit! That certainly bears repeating – Thank you Robin Roberts!

As for the fact that:

“No-holds-barred fighting has long been popular on television, in shows like "American Gladiators" and "The Ultimate Fighting Championship."

Here’s a clip of the “no-holds-barred fighting.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example, but you get the point.

Speaking of the UFC - heee-uge fight this weekend. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Chuck “What’s a Chuck” Liddell. Rampage is one of three people to beat Liddell in his carreer and is the only loss Liddell has yet to avenge. There are a couple good looking undercards scheduled that include “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine, Kalib "And Broccoli" Starns, Chris "No, no, don't worry about me, I'm" Leben, Sean "Lemon-Crusted" Salmon and Thiago "Don't Call Me Hidalgo" Silva. (Some nicknames may have been made up - you pick which ones)

The Silva fight might not be broadcast because of it’s spot on the fight card, but I hope it is because any Brazilian named Silva is an entertaining fighter.

If you’re going to be in Vegas Saturday night, tickets are still available for only 30 bucks.

Wait, no. That’s the service charge. The tickets are $750.

Anyway, in the last month Liddell has been on the cover of ESPN The Magazine (There was also a UFC cover/feature in Sports Illustrated. Here’s the SI story.) Did I mention that ESPNEWS will be covering the weigh-ins tomorrow? Along with coverage from a couple other entities you may have hear of.

UPDATE: Liddell also appeared on HBO's Entourage a couple weeks ago.

Another UPDATE: ESPN has launched an MMA section on the dotcom.

I think it’s safe to say, the UFC has arrived. However, I believe it might be extremely important for Chuck Liddell to win Saturday. Dana White and the UFC have finally got a cover boy for the sport. He’s become the face of the sport that people outside the immediate die-hard fan base can recognize.

America loves winners and thus far, Liddell is that. For Liddell to lose this weekend would set the sport back a year or two commercially in corporate America. There’s a lot of money out there to be made where boxing used to be and this is Liddell and the UFC’s biggest and best chance. I’m not saying the sport can’t recover from a Liddell loss, it will keep growing no matter the income. I do believe that Liddell must win to keep the sport growing at its current pace – or faster.

To go along with the endorsements angle, a Liddell win sets up the rubber match between the two. A Rampage victory means he effectively owns Liddell in the eyes of America and the people who own the UFC. Besides, Liddell is 37 – an aging superstar while Rampage is only 28 – practically a pup by MMA standards.

A Liddell victory means a rematch – probably in the fall of 2008 - which brings with it the scenario of Liddell with the opportunity to finish Rampage again and walk away as maybe the best ever…or Rampage winning and forcefully taking the torch to carry into the next decade.

I think it’s a much better scenario for the UFC to have Liddell around as the champion kicking people’s asses for a couple more years than having him be the former champ trying to regain his belt. Let the young kids take their knocks against the G.O.A.T. and in a couple years, as the sport has grown all the way up, let a new champion put Liddell on his ass. By then it will probably lead SportsCenter.

Above Photo: “Big” John McCarthy consoles a Renato “Babalu” Sobral after Chuck “What’s a Chuck” Liddell beat him so badly that Eli Roth was quoted as saying, “There was no need for that. That was excessive and exploitative.”

Finally, I would like to name-check UFC Junkie, AOL FanHouse and as always, With Leather. Without the links I stole from them none of this would have been possible today. Of course I should have had all this up yesterday with proper credit given in the spots I wanted, but BLOGGER sucks a fat cock on some days. Yesterday just happened to be one of those days. And lastly, to the love of my life who for some reason sent along 2 pictures of Scarlett this morning.