My Post-UFC-71 Thoughts

Well, UFC 71 has come and gone. Keeping with the last few pay-per-views, there were some startling surprises. Most striking was newcomer Housten Alexander’s complete domination of veteran Keith Jardine. Jardine looked less like “The Dean of Mean”—his UFC moniker—and more like “The Dean of Mildly Upset” as Alexander rained down a series of unanswered blows less than a minute into the first. Jardine entered the fight a heavy favorite and drew Alexander’s ire when he stated in pre-fight interviews that he needed to fight quality opponents. Alexander made a bold statement in his debut and has gone from unknown newcomer to contender overnight.

My thoughts:

Keith Jardine has to feel like a real doofus right now. He failed to give a dangerous opponent any respect before the fight and was then brutally KO'd-- and that in less than a minute!--by a man who, by his own determination, didn't possess the credentials to fight him. A loss to Alexander under any circumstance would have been detrimental to his career, but now his beatdown is stigmatized by poor sportsmanship and refusal to respect his opponent. He didn't only lose badly; he looked like a total fool in the process.

Challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson stunned all those in attendance with his first-round knockout of long-time champion Chuck Liddell. About three minutes into the fight Liddell attempted a shot to the body, but Jackson countered with a looping right hook that dropped the champion. Jackson followed up with a series a strikes to the head before the referee had to step in and stop the fight. In the post-fight interview, Pride star Dan Henderson, who currently holds both Pride’s welterweight and middleweight belts, stepped into the octagon to challenge Jackson. Given Liddell’s two losses to Jackson and his lack of competitiveness in both fights, it seems that Liddell will not get a rematch anytime soon, or at least as long as Jackson has the belt.

My thoughts:

What's got to be going though Chuck Liddell's head right now? He enters the fight with one of the most impressive strings of victories in the history of the sport. He has been dominating some of the fiercest fighters in the business. He has shown no signs of mortality. Then after a quick right hook and some follow-up shots, his title run has come to an end. Given Chuck's ego and his confidence in his own abilities, it's going to be interesting to see how he recovers from this. The early rumor is that his comeback fight will be against long-time nemesis Wanderlei Silva, but we've been promised that fight before.

Final Thoughts:

I got to say that I was a little disappointed with Liddell-Jackson fight. MMA fans like me have been anticipating this fight for the better part of three years, and the whole fight barely three minutes! What’s worse, both fighters spent the first two minutes barely throwing a punch. The first fight was a war—even at first but with Jackson gaining momentum as the bout progressed. Most of us expected the same in the rematch, but instead we saw two and a half minutes of hesitancy followed by five seconds of action. I would’ve like to have seen a couple rounds of action—that at the very least.

But what’s done is done, and Quinton “Rampage” now sips atop the light-heavyweight hill.

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