A thread asking for opinions on WANDERLEI SILVA and CHUCK LIDDELL

Hmmm tough question, both did their best, and by that I mean most brutal, stand up performances against grapplers. But the difference for me is Wandy faced strikers who were as good if not better than him in PRIDE, all be it later in his run in Japan. Chuck with a few exceptions of course, was just ktfo of grapplers with his immense TD defence and right hand combo. But for all roundedness and level of comp, Id give it to Wandy overall even though I think Chucks style is all wrong for him if they fought in their primes, and they were not too far removed from it when they did

But for me, the Page fight and Wandy fighting Mirko Hunt and Fujita, legit HW's who he went 2 2 with just edges it form me

HTH - Chuck
Overall - Wanderlei

 

A well thought out thread my friend. You did your research and I nominate this for MMA thread of the year. I also vote overall career is Silva but H2H is Chuck.

 

their first match didnt end in a KO loss to chuck it was a corner stoppage

 

KO, TKO...wtf is the difference.

 

that the dude wasnt knocked out is the difference :good

 

Wanderlei.

Now fighting as a middleweight, the guy went to war with heavyweights and looked good doing it. Went 2-1 against Rampage and that loss came well past his prime. He's still been competitive in his recent losses, including to Chuck (a fight which I think would've gone very differently if they were both in their prime) and Franklin, even though he's a fraction of what he used to be, and the Bisping fight showed that he still has what it takes to be competitive (and win) at a high level.

 

I'm a big fan of both but Chuck was better head to head and had a better record aside from the Rampage fights. But were Chuck lost to Rampage and Wanderlai didn't - Chuck crushed Tito Ortiz where Wanderlai lost to him. Chuck beat multiple former UFC champions. I don't think Wanderlai had a single one on the winning side of his resume.

 

Ahem, prime Sakuraba twice, Henderson and Rampage twice in his unbeaten run from 2000-2004, split decision loss to prime Mark Hunt and a draw with prime Cro Cop in that period too.

Chuck is undeniably a scary and awesome champion, but I personally rank Silva over him.

 

Two similar fighters in that they had KO power and always looked to finish fights and were obviously technically flawed , thats the beauty of these two is that you could always see them being beaten but in there primes it didnt happen .

My thoughts are that Wanderlei was the more polished skill wise , and Chuck will stand above him in an ATG list , but ive gotta say this , theres **** all between them in both departments .

My one gripe with Wanderlei is that he was abusing PED's as were most of the Pride fighters in that era , that for me massively reduces Wanderlie's credibility , we never seen the monster that was in Pride in the UFC and i solely beleive that Wanderlei's style whilst in Pride and the manner he applied himself in the ring was partially down to steroids .

Id always go with Liddell in a fantasy match up between these two as i beleive Chucks style and reach was / would of been the major factor in him beating Wanderlei , added to that Chuck always has his wrestling to go to if the stand up wasnt going great , hence round 3 of there fight @UFC 79

My overall summary of Chuck would be a decent striker , who was game , athletically gifted with tremendous power and in his prime excellent timing , he was matched well during his reign as the sports leading figure but for me he was never the striker he was made out to be , and once his chin went so did he , Liddell at his very best in MMA was his fight with Belfort IMHO , yes he had solid displays against Randy and Tito oh and Babalu but other than that there's nothing that special in terms of resume when you look at todays monsters , that said , in his time he was the best in the world , that is without doubt

 

It was horse meat...

 

Right on Spider - Both men were awesome and to be thanked for bringing scary striking to the fore when Matt Hughes and Sherk were l'n'p-ing all over dudes.