UFC 79: Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva official

Yo Mamma

From our good friends at www.ufcmania.com

Former champions Chuck Liddell (20-5) and Wanderlei Silva (31-7-1) will indeed clash in a light heavyweight super fight at UFC 79: “Nemesis” on December 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

UFC President Dana White made the highly anticipated (and well-known) announcement during a commercial break for the 2007 Scream Awards on the Spike television network this evening.

Here’s a bit of what he had to say:

“This is the most anticipated fight in the history of mixed martial arts…. It is the perfect way to end 2007.”

Fans can now take a collective deep sigh of relief because even though all signs pointed to a match up between the two icons it was never really official until it came from the UFC brass.

The fight has been on-and-off since both 205-pound fighters held the belts in their respective organizations — Liddell for the UFC and Silva for PRIDE FC.

It almost went down during a tournament-style event back in 2003, PRIDE: Final Conflict. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, however, played the role of spoiler that night, taking out “The Iceman” in the semifinals in an upset.

He went on to lose later that night to “The Axe Murderer.”

Since that time the bout between Liddell and Silva has taken on a life of its own. In fact, when the two were reigning champions back in 2006, White made the bold move of bringing Silva into the Octagon and announced that the two champions would finally square off.

It never happened for various reasons.

Then earlier this year, as the PRIDE organization was about to fold, Silva was knocked out by Dan Henderson, losing his middleweight title.

At the time, White said that PRIDE had thrown away the biggest fight in the history of the sport.

That is until Liddell lost his belt to Rampage three months later at UFC 71, and then lost his next fight against Keith Jardine — a fight in which fans were teased again with the potential showdown.

“The Dean of Mean” stepped in for Silva at UFC 76 last month after negotiations on a date for the bout with the Brazilian fell through at the last minute.

Finally … After all these years and teases the fight is booked once and for all. And even if it doesn’t have the same value in terms of declaring an international or unified champion, it will settle one of the longest-running (and perhaps most intriguing) debates in the relatively brief history of MMA:

Who wins a fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva?

We’ll find out on New Year’s Eve weekend.

See … Dreams really do come true.

Swweeeeeettt

Frankly, I hope Wanderlei beats his ass !! I like Chuck but he needs to bring something new to his game, I mean Jardine just kicked him around the Octagon to nab the Judges Decision, and Chuck just looked totally monatone in terms of his style and approach to the fight ! Wanderlei is one of the toughest guys out there and I think that this bout will either be the Making or Breaking of Chuck if he doesnt step up his game for this fight !!

And thats my 2 cents

HJ-

Colm_OReilly

Just to screw the whole thing up, I think Silva will win.

Colm
-Legendary Prediction Skillz

Dragan

I can't see Chuck taking this, to be honest.

Maybe if he decides to do more than box,........poorly.

Happy new year fellas.



im bettin on Wanderlei

dunkamania

Interesting to see how UFC market this one,it has been on hardcore fans wishlist for a year but most fans will have never seen him fight.

goo

I'm so glad they're putting this on, even though its a bit risky for them. I guess for the UFC its best if Chuck wins but I want to see Rampage - Silva again.

fatal

lookin forward to this fight...both figthers have had a tough time with their last few fights.This is make or break time for both

goo

I'd definitely pick losing to Cro Cop and Hendo over Rampage and Keith Jardine.
Considering who it is we're talking about, though, I don't think we're anywhere near the "make or break" stage.

Frank Bullitt

If chuck wins this it could well be the best result of his career.

Gintonious

Gintonious wrote: »

If chuck wins this it could well be the best result of his career.

If chuck wins i bet he will retire.

Dave!

COME ON WANDERLEI!!!

Can't wait for this

PiZaRR-0

The fight isnt even going to headline the card, shocking. A year to late.. Although thank god its still going to happen, at last. This time Wandy really will f*ck chuck!

Yo Mamma

Ha Ha

This time Wandy really will f*ck chuck!

And just to remind those who may have forgotten !!

LOL

HJ-

goo

I bet he's banned from kicking legs.

goo

goo wrote: »

I bet he's banned from kicking legs.

dont u mean checking leg kicks

HammerHeadGym

Well, it's definitely the fight we've all been waiting for, but I think it's come a few years too late. This would have been so much better a few years ago.