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Liddell Upsets Couture with First Round Knockout |
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Written by Chad Dundas
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Sunday, 17 April 2005 |
From Ninja Star.tv
Chuck Liddell said all along he wasn't going to change his game plan
for his rematch with Randy Couture. He wasn't lying - the only thing that was
different Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was the outcome
of the fight.
Just two minutes into the main event of UFC 52, Liddell dropped Couture
with a devastating right cross and followed it up with three more shots
as Couture fell to the canvas. Referee John McCarthy moved in to stop
the fight, awarding Liddell the UFC light heavyweight championship.
"I've waited for this my whole life, my whole career," Liddell said at
the post-fight press conference. "I don't know what to say now."
Liddell looked sharp in the fight, landing with more frequency and more
effectiveness than he did in his first fight with Couture, at UFC 43 in
2003.
Liddell's knockout came moments after McCarthy had called for a break
in the action so ringside doctors could examine Couture's right eye,
which Liddell which appeared to bother Couture after Liddell just
missed with a punch. It was a scene eerily similar to Couture's loss to
Vitor Belfort at UFC 46. After the short delay, the fight was restarted.
"Chuck threw a punch and his pinkie was out," McCarthy told Ninja Star.
"It just kind of grazed (Couture's) eye. We wanted to stop to make sure
it wasn't cut."
It was the first time in Couture's career that he'd ever been knocked out.
"If you stay in here long enough, it's bound to happen," Couture said
after the fight. "I'm happy for Chuck, he deserves it. I'll be back, I
can promise you that."
After winning the fight, Liddell said he wanted to fight Pride
middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva. A proposed match-up between
Couture and Silva has been rumored for months, but it seemed unlikely
that the two fighting promotions would be able to agree on terms for a
fight.
UFC President Dana White seemed equally pessimistic about the prospect of a Liddell-Silva match-up.
"Everybody knows where I stand on this," White said. "I'm still sending
fighters over there (to Pride). Vitor Belforts going to fight over
there at the next Grand Prix. They talk a lot, but they never come
through."
Liddell also shrugged-off implications that it 41 year-old Couture's age was finally starting to catch up with the former champ.
"He came out looking the same, in fact I thought his striking was a
little better," Liddell said. "I was just able to catch him, I throw
pretty hard."
Liddell commented that he felt his conditioning was better for this
fight than in the first fight with Couture, which Liddell lost via TKO
in the second round.
"This time a lot had to do with that I was in a lot better shape,"
Liddell said. "(Trainer) John (Hackleman) had me working, we learned a
lot from the first fight."
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