Where did you rank Chuck Liddell pound for pound before he lost to Jackson at ufc 71

Hard to really give him a ton of credit.. It wasn't until Pride dissolved that the better fighters from that org came to the UFC. In reality, the sort of golden age of what would be the UFC light heavyweight era had already taken place in pride.. It's really a difficult thing to even argue against..

Just look at the names, and the guys who were at peak, or very good stages of their careers.. It really was an international stage, which everyone who was anyone took part in, including Liddell. We saw what happened to him there.

Only guy who wasn't Prime in Pride was Rampage imo.. But, you had guys like Sakuraba, Shogun, Wand, Rampage, Overeem, Henderson, Arona, Werdum *yeah heavy*, Vovchanchyn, AND Liddell for a stint.. It really was something special for a while. Some fighters are borderline heavies.. But, imagine watching Vovchanchyn listed at 205, dropping ten lbs and fighting competitively at 195.. Hendo, could be excluded, but he certainly was game when he was a little younger.

 

Dont recall as its been nearly 3 years but in the top 10 for sure. People gotta understand the incredible tear he was for those 3 years. KO 2 Tito Ortiz, KO 1 Vernon White, KO 1 Randy Couture, KO 4 Jeremy Horn, KO 2 Randy Couture, KO 1 Babalu Sobral, KO 3 Tito Ortiz. Thats as a good a run as anyones had when it comes to high level oppostion in consecutive fights.

 

And what happened he lost to a guy in Rampage who he lost to the UFC a great fighter who has Chuck's number. Chuck fought 2 other times in Pride knocking out Mezger and Overeem so clearly he could hang. I cant really act like Pride's 205 pound divison was all that better. Maybe with the overall depth but as far as the top elite guys go Belfort, Couture, Ortiz, Liddell where as good as Wanderlei and company.

 

I just disagree with you outright. Pride's 205 lb was the golden age of what would be considered a 195-205 lb weight class. It was absolutely loaded with outstanding fighters in arguably their primes, or short periods removed from them, either prior or post.

If Liddell fought more in Pride, then sure. But, there are a lot of guys he could have had his name tested against. I think he would have faired very well. But lost to guys like Rua, Vovchanchyn, and a Prime Wand. To be fair to my home town hero, I think he would have destroyed Sakuraba and likely beaten Arona as well.

top five for Liddell.

 

That could work both ways though. Wanderlei had already lost to Tito and Belfort, he could have lost to Chuck and Randy as well. It is all speculation.

 

Never top five, but his style and personality (and fans, especially) always rubbed me the wrong way so maybe he didn't get a fair shake from me.

 

Meh, I'm not basing it on who beat who.. Sure looks that way.. I'm basing it on styles though.. I consider Chucks counter to ground fighting when I say he's beat guys like Sakuraba and possibly Arona. Now, it can also be argued that Chuck hadn't quite peaked. If you want to argue that, then go ahead.

But, I feel some of you guys have short memories.. If you wanted to be considered among the best in the world, you went to Pride, and that was the end of story. It was THE recognized international org. Chuck made his run beat Overeem in a good fight, but still lost to Rampage.

Belfort is a fair case to make.. The guy shows up and is unbeatable some days.. He also had a lack of success against fighters he should destroy on paper.. Sakuraba just made him look like an amateur, he lost to Overeem. If anything, we should be wondering who would stand a chance against Belfort when he's fighting well.

 

Chuck was on a real tear at the time - especially after posting the two KO wins over Couture. He definitely deserved to be ranked quite high. At that point he had already beaten the legendary Pele, the Phenom Vitor Belfort, former heavyweight champion - Kevin Randleman, former King of Pancrase Guy Metzger, future Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, and on and on.

 

Pride definitely had a golden age at 205 - but my problem with it is that it was built on the back of Wanderlai Silva - right after he lost to Tito Ortiz. Ortiz went on to lose his title to Couture and the rest is history. Without Couture in that mix - we never knew who the absolute best was - and Liddell lost to Rampage - AFTER he was dominated by Couture. He was in Pride as a UFC castoff.

 

Hard to say because I don't remember the exact situation at that time in all the major weightclasses.

I would say I had him ranked as the #1 205er though.

 

not at all chuck was always over rated in his biggest run he faught all rematches no one new and none of the worlds top 205ers then pride comes over and hes goes 1-2 against pride guys sorry he was always just a ko puncher.

i my be slanted by my hate for him

 

Chuck was probably #2 behind Shogun who was pretty much the consensus #1 LHW before he got dominated by Forrest.

 

Fought guys noboddy knew ? Chuck has a whos who of KO victims bro you are telling me noboddy on this forum knows Couture, Ortiz, Babalu, Belfort, Overeem, Wanderlei etc ?

 

The guy always put on a show, i didn't rate him very high in a P4P list.