UFC 54 main event: Liddell vs. Horn
(This is the last of four postings related to the Ultimate Fighting Championship 54 pay-per-view. Scroll down to the post entitled "UFC 54" and move up from there if you want to read about the show in chronological order).
Shaq picks Chuck Liddell to win. Mario Lopez of ESPN Hollywood (I know this because that's what the graphic says), blabs in a way that suggests he has no idea what he's watching. He's clearly not been fully trained yet in the ESPN method of screaming a simplistic opinion whether you actually believe what you're saying. Someone from That 70s Show also picks Chuck. Dave's World is also picking Chuck. That's three for Liddell and one person who has never watched UFC before. Rick Tocchet does not get consulted.
Horn's win over Liddell came in 1999, for what that's worth. Five rounds for the light heavyweight title, here.
Big John McCarthy is the ref. Big John is about 6-foot-8 and used to be in charge of teaching martial arts at the LAPD. Three rules in life: Death, taxes, don't mess with Big John McCarthy.
Horn's record is 83-15-9. And he's only 29. That's a lot of fights.
Lots of circling early, no need to rush in a five-round fight. Liddell is easily the nastiest puncher in UFC. He knocked Couture silly to win the title, which is the only time I've seen Couture get floored. So this strategy is a lot riskier for Horn. Horn's a good ground fighter and is looking for an opening -- he choked out Liddell in his upset win -- but all it takes is one punch from the Iceman to end things.
And that punch seemingly comes about three minutes in. Liddell drills him in the nose, even with Horn having his hands up in a classic boxing defensive pose. Horn gets up and walks into another flurry that knocks him down.
Wow. Horn's up. I'm amazed Horn survived. End of the round. The Iceman unquestionably takes the first round, but Liddell's flurry would have knocked just about any other fighter out, so Horn earns respect.
Horn gets a shot in to start the second. It is really a question of whether Horn can hang on long enough to find an opening and get a submission in.
Man, Horn takes another series of nasty punches. He clearly wants to bring the fight to the ground and take time to recover, but Liddell wants no part of it and Big John orders Horn up.
Horn somehow manages to get through a wobbly-legged phase and gets his composure. Liddell lays off for the remainder of the round. Not sure why he doesn't just put him away -- either he is waiting on a shot, or is more tired than he is letting on. Liddell wins the second.
I gotta flag part of the crowd 15 yards for idiocy. They keep booing Horn for trying to take the fight to the ground. He's a ground fighter. They're booing him as though he's acting like a coward, when he's really trying to play to his strengths. Liddell just isn't biting.
Round three. Very curious that Chuck's done nothing in the three minutes of action since he came close to putting him away. No action in the first two minutes to speak of. Can't blame Horn for not wanting to get his bell rung again; Chuck has a huge lead on the scorecard and doesn't need to push things. Liddell gets a good kick and a couple punches in late, so I'm giving him the round.
Round four -- Horn has his bearings back. Liddell's game plan clearly involves avoiding a submission. (The UFC broadcasting team's scorer gave round three to Horn, but I'm sticking with Liddell). Anyway, more of the same in round four. Eventually, Horn is going to have to doing something, if he holds off until the fifth … well, nevermind, Liddell just nailed Horn with a shot to the right eye socket and that's it, Liddell retains the title.
Really good show tonight (they're going to start showing the pre-taped prelim fights, but I'm not sticking around). But they haven't had a marquee main event since Couture-Liddell three shows ago. After the past two shows, we now have potential big ticket title fights with Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovsky in the heavyweights; Liddell and Couture in a rematch in the light heavies; and Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre in the welterweight division.
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