No he wasn't. Coming into the fight vs Rampage at PRIDE Dana personally over saw Chuck's training spending 10's of thousands on him to ensure he was in shape and injury free. Dana even had a $250K bet on Chuck to win the 2003 GP he was that confident. Rampage destroyed him and dominated him on the mat.
Chuck's chin was average. He made a career feasting on wrestlers. When he came to PRIDE and fought two of their best strikers the first time he was hurt badly but was able to turn the fight around and stop Overeem. The second time he was beaten up badly and stopped.
And went 3 rounds with a striker who is now considered in the elite bracket of strikers , won the exchanges and dropped him in Vitor Belfort , Rampage was tailor made for Liddell , a tidy boxer who counter rolls well with both hands , against a loose straight puncher with no head movement .............
:huh If you're talking about Overeem he stopped him in the first round IIRC. As for Rampage being tailor made for him he clearly was not as he stopped him twice in spectacular fashion.
Rampage did whatever he liked with Chuck when they fought in PRIDE. He even had him hurt with stiff jabs. The problem with Chuck was he threw these wide looping punches that were very easy to counter. That worked fine against wrestlers with no striking skills but not against top notch strikers like Overeem and Rampage. Not even worth discussing their second fight.
My thought's exactly. I wonder if he's even seen the fight? This is why i never understand some MMA fans. They just seem to make **** up as they go along...
Dana spent the 1st half of the fight explaining this and how Chuck was in great shape and had the best camp ever at no exspense spared, the 2nd half blaming Chuck for not following siad preparations Fact is he was beat fair and square :thumbsup
Dana was sat next to Bas and whatshisface (skinny guy that looks like a rat) and explained all of this as the fight progressed. Dana supplied Chuck with everything for that fight. Even the nice Hockey Shirt UFC jerseys his team wore into the ring. Rampage destroyed him. The fight wasn't close or even competitive. And for the entire fight Dana had his heart in his mouth as he NEVER expected that outcome. If i recall those same trainers and preparation that Chuck had were sent to Rampages room after the fight.
Liddell claimed to have picked up a hamstring problem in the build up to the Rampage fight and masked it from Dana White , i read this in his book and have just searched high and low for an extract but cant find one . Again just a claim from Chuck , not a solid source or excuse , and we all seen what happened in the fight . Liddell and Rampage have operated on much different levels in college wrestling , Liddell being a decorated division 1 wrestler , Rampage not even close (state wrestler) , again just an observation .
Average chins don't survive full shin-on-chin blasts from guys like Pele, nor do they take bombs from Mezger and Overeem without any significant stunning occurring. He wasn't hurt "badly" at any moment of those fights and was dropped for about a nanosecond by that A-bomb of a right from Guy. They also don't hold up to ten minutes of beating from Rampage. You go to that classic "he only fought wrestlers" argument while ignoring the fact that he beat Pele, Mezger, Overeem, and Belfort while he was supposedly ducking these great strikers in PRIDE. He also beat PRIDE's uberstriker in Silva when both were past it but still somewhat viable as contenders. The guy's chin was great, recovery time outstanding, and you obviously know **** all about mandibular fortitude. Leave analyzation of chins to Team Elite and the chin checkers, kiddo.:deal
You're talking pure ****. Dana PERSONALLY commentated that fight WITH BAS at ringside. He knew the score for his entire training schedule leading up to the fight because HE paid for it. Stop making excuses. As for Liddell's wrestling credentials what's that got to do with the price of fish. 90% of their bout was fought on their feet. It was only near the end of the fight that Rampage dumped him on his ass and forced the stoppage. Go and watch the fight buddy. The fight's much better than reading it in a book....