Wanderlei vs. Chuck

It's on - for real this time - for UFC 79 on December 29.

Have You Seen This DirecTV Ad?

I'll say it again: until it's confirmed by the UFC, it's all just speculation to me.

Chuck and Wanderlei Agree on December 29 Fight

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer is reporting that Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva have verbally agreed to fight at UFC 79 on December 29 in Las Vegas. Until I hear the UFC confirm that this fight is a go, I'm not going to get too excited.

Pit Boss Hackleman Says Chuck vs. Wanderlei Will Happen in December

John Hackleman, The Pit taskmaster and Chuck Liddell’s trainer, suggested in a recent interview that the UFC is going ahead with a December 29th fight between Chuck and Wanderlei Silva. I’ve been burned before with such promises, so I'm not buying it just yet.

Click here for the full interview. Hackleman mentions the fight at the very end.

Straight Talk

"This is going to be a good standup fight, and it will be a very exciting fight for the fans. But I will beat him. I’m going to knock him out. I’ll go in there and pound on him until he goes down. I want to knock him out as fast as I can, win the fight, and then go get my belt back."

- Chuck Liddell talks about his UFC 76 fight against Keith Jardine

Morning Droppings

- Gracie fighter and TUF 5 season winner Nate Diaz will will reportedly make his next UFC appearance as part of the September 19 UFC Fight Night event against Junior Assuncao.

- The Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine headlining fight for UFC 76 is now official.



- Iowa Silverbacks middleweight Ryan McGivern will not be competing in the August 2 IFL semifinals East Rutherford, NJ. McGivern will be replaced by former Portland Wolfpack fighter Gerald Harris.



- The Fight Network is reporting that Royce Gracie did not submit a written appeal to the CSAC to contest steroid use allegations after testing positive for Nandrolone Metabolite, an anabolic steroid, following his June 2 win over Kazushi Sakaraba. Gracie has instead decided to pay the fine and sit out a because he doesn't want to pay the legal fees.

Around the UFC

- The Dayton Daily News is reporting that all hope is not yet lost for a Chuck Liddell- Wanderlei Silva fight. The Iceman and The Axe Murderer are rumored to possibly fight on the same December 29 Las Vegas card that will feature the Matt Serra-Matt Hughes welterweight championship fight. If true, this would be huge.

- Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans II at UFC 77 in Cincinnati might not happen after all, the Dayton Daily News also reports. A member of Evans' camp explained, "At this point, a (Cincinnati) fight isn't a lock. With Tito, nothing is ever guaranteed." I couldn't care less if this fight never happens. But that's just me.

- UFC 75 will air on Spike TV (free!) on September 8 on tape delay beginning at 9 PM (New York time). The event will be held at The 02 Arena in London and will be headlined by the Dan Henderson-Rampage Jackson light heavyweight unification title fight.

Morning Droppings

- EliteXC president Gary Shaw says that the company's deal with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has fallen through and the Cameroon native is now expected to sign with K-1 Hero’s in Japan.

- With Wanderlei Silva off the UFC 76 September card, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell is expected to face Keith Jardine in the event's headlining fight. This is a lackluster main event, and Jardine is no substitute for Silva.

- Fighter/referee extraordiannaire Herb Dean had to pull out of his Cage Rage 22 fight with Dave Legano due to an eye injury. The big Herbivore later announced that he will retire from fighting and stick to being a mediocre referee.

- Speaking of this weekend's Cage Rage event, I came across this little gem on MMAWeekly.com: "Joe Mac vs. Jeremy Bailey did not happen due to Joe Mac's face being slashed by a knife the night before."

Wanderlei Ducks No Man

A video posted by Wanderlei Silva on his official site disputes claims that he backed out a September fight with Chuck Liddell, the terms of which had previousle been agreed upon. The following responses have been translated from the video:

- "I never said that I wouldn't fight Chuck. I've wanted this fight for a long time."

- "I received a contract with two options, I could fight in September or November. I have chosen to make this fight in November. I was the first to want this fight, but they kept avoiding this fight. Now there's a lot of people saying that I have ducked Chuck. This is not true."

- "I am in a moment of transition in my life. I'm going to move to the U.S. in a few weeks. I'm going to live in the U.S. and there's a lot of things happening, and I'm not focused on training the way I want to be. I always fought at the time the promoters wanted. Sometimes I did things I should not have done, but this time I won't do that anymore."

- "This fight is on, if he Chuck doesn't hide behind this mess."

Dana: Chuck vs. Wanderlei “Not Happening”

I figured as much.

UFC president Dana White recently told Yahoo! Sports that Wanderlei Silva has backed out of the fight, which was scheduled for September 22’s UFC 76.

Yahoo! Sports reports that Silva no longer wanted to fight Liddell, White had been informed.

“This is the worst news I could have possibly gotten. It’s horrendous. I have been trying to make this fight for six years. I have done everything in my power I could do over the last six years to make this fight and it’s still not happening. I just don’t see it happening now,” White lamented.

While I have a hard time believing that Wanderlei would “duck” any man, especially his cold-war nemesis Chuck Liddell, I can understand why he’d be wary to make his UFC debut against the dangerous Iceman. Wanderlei is coming off of consecutive KO losses, so facing a true knockout artist in Liddell might not be the best course of action.

At this point, Dana White is uncertain whether he wants to keep Liddell on the the UFC 76 card and is unsure what the card’s main event will be – Shogun Rua vs. Lyoto Machida? Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez? Evan Tanner vs. the dreaded TBA? None of the above?

Stay tuned.

Wanderlei Silva Site Confirms Liddell Match

A statement was posted in Portuguese on Wanderlei Silva's web site indicating that a September 22 fight with Chuck Liddell is on. Also on Wanderlei's site was the picture seen at right.

I noticed that neither the picture nor the statement appears on the English-language Wanderlei Silva page.

This is the third time that a Liddell/Silva fight has been "confirmed," so I'll wait for official confirmation from Dana White and the UFC.

Chuck vs. Wanderlei at UFC 76?

A source close to the famed Chute Boxe camp told UFCJunkie that former UFC 205-lb. champion Chuck Liddell and former Pride 205-lb. champion Wanderlei Silva have verbally agreed to a UFC 76 (September 22) fight.

The Chute Boxe source says that the fight will be official once Wanderlei returns to U.S. soil and signs the contract, the "numbers" of which have been reportedly agreed upon. Silva is currently in Brazil, where last week, he and other MTL (a Brazilian team MMA league) coaches selected fighters for the league's inaugural season.

I don't want to get too excited over the Liddell-Silva match-up until I know it's definitely a go, but it's hard not to. Despite consecutive KO losses in Pride to Mirko Filipovic and Dan Henderson, I still regard Wanderlei Silva as one of the finest, most indefatigably ferocious fighters anywhere. I love his glare, his focus, and his furious Chute Box Style. As for Chuck, he can still put you on your ass with one sloppy looking punch.

The Iceman and The Axe Murderer might not be as supremely untouchable as we may have thought a year ago, but if you can think of a more intriguing fight at 205 that involves neither Chuck Liddell nor Wanderlei Silva, I'd love to hear it.

Dana White Talks UFC Light-Heavies

There's been a lot going down recently with the UFC LHW division, so here's some of the latest 205-lb. news from UFC president Dana White.

- Dan Henderson will fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 75 in what will be a unification bout for the UFC and Pride belts. This is excellent news.

It was reported a while back that this fight would be non-title, and then it was supposedly for the UFC belt only, which seemed stupid, so I'm glad to see champion vs. champion for all the marmalade. Fittingly, UFC 75 has been officially titled "Champion vs. Champion."

And as I wrote earlier, even if Henderson loses his LHW belt to Jackson, he's still got the Pride middleweight strap. Henderson vs. Silva, to me at least, is infinitely more exciting than Silva-Franklin. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet...

- White says that former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell will "probably" make his return to the Octagon in September. No opponent has been cited. Wanderleisilvawayswhat...

- According to a Gainesville Sun article, White is claiming that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is likely to make his UFC debut against Ryoto Machida at UFC 76. MMAWeekly reports that both Rua and Machida were scheduled to fight at UFC 76 against the dreaded TBA, so this match-up gives them each an opponent in one another. This could be an excellent showcase of Machida's polished mixed martial artistry and against Rua's furiously technical Chute Box style in a match-up between the Chute Boxe vs. Black House camps.

This fight excites me because 1) it's Shogun we're talking about here, folks, and 2) Machida is an excellent fighter who, in my opinion, has been largely overlooked by most MMA fans, partly because none of his UFC fights have been televised. The man is undefeated and holds wins over Rich Franklin and BJ Penn. Shogun, meanwhile, is widely regarded by many as the best 205-pounder on the planet, especially now that Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell have both lost their belts.

Chuck Goes to Disneyland and Eats a Churro

If there were any real news, I'd report it to you.

Straight Talk

"I think it’s a great fight for the fans and I think it would be a great fight. I think it would have been a little better both of us being champions and now with both of us coming back from losses, but that’s what champions do so it’s both of us trying to make our way back."

- Chuck Liddell on fighting Wanderlei Silva.