The Port Arthur News
April 25, 2009 09:20 pm
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The sport of mixed martial arts may have seen the end or an era last Saturday night at UFC 97. After owning the UFC light heavyweight division for most of the decade and becoming the sport's first mainstream star, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell's fighting career appears to be over.
In the co-main event of the evening, Shogun Rua landed a left hook in the waning seconds of round one to level the Iceman. After Shogun followed-up with undefended hammer fists, referee Mario Yamasaki called an end to the fight.
Simply put, Father Time, as well as the sport's talent level, had caught up to Liddell. Now pushing 40, the Iceman had naturally lost some of his speed which was a recipe for disaster against today's generation of mixed martial artists like Rua and Rashad Evans.
Taking a backseat to the exit of Chuck Liddell, people must realize this fight also represented a passing of the guard. The ex-PRIDE standout, Rua, appears to be fighting his way up toward an eventual title bout in the UFC's super-stacked light heavyweight division.
This major victory claimed by Rua has thrusted him into the thick of things in what can informally be dubbed, the UFC Light Heavyweight Wars.
With fighters like Rua, Forrest Griffin, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Thiago Silva, and current champion, Rashad Evans, who'll rein supreme in this deep division? It'll be super exciting to find out in the coming months and years.
Although spectators witnessed a watershed moment in the Liddell-Rua fight, the other main event of the evening left the crowd unsatisfied.
Anderson "The Spider" Silva successfully defended his UFC middleweight title against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites in a five round ho-hum bout. Silva never really mounted an offensive and Leites flopped to the canvas to pull guard multiple times throughout the bout . The two fighters received a rain of boos from the Canadian crowd for their unwillingness to engage.
Although it was a boring fight, one really can't fault Silva for his performance.
Having won eight fights in a row going into the bout, Silva was fighting to become the first UFC champion to make it nine. The only other UFC champion to win eight consecutive bouts was legendary UFC pioneer Royce Gracie from UFC 1 through UFC 3.
Silva was fighting for his legacy in the sport. As a result he wasn't fighting to win by fantastic crowd-pleasing knockout. He was fighting carefully not to lose against the dangerous submission artist in Leites.
The situation poses a dilemma and creates a question that fans can ask themselves. In the same situation do you fight to make the fans happy while leaving yourself open to a loss? Or do you fight in a calculated way to maintain being champion and cementing yourself in the record books?
One can't blame Silva for taking the latter. The style match-up with his jiu-jitsu black belt opponent warranted it.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at
DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
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