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Iceman Talks 'Babalu' with MMAWeekly |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 03 August 2006 |
 By Jeff Cain
MMAWeekly.com
Renato “Babalu” Sobral lost to Chuck “Iceman” Liddell at
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 40: “Vendetta” in November of
2002, but hasn’t lost since. On August 26th, the two will square off
again, except this time the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship will be
on the line.
It was announced at UFC 61: “Bitter Rivals” that
Liddell will finally get the fight he has been wanting for years, a
fight with Pride Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva in November
provided he can get past Renato Sobral at UFC 62.
The question has been asked, are Liddell and the UFC
looking past “Babalu?” Are they counting their chickens before they
hatch?
“I’ll be taking those fights one day at a time. I’ve
got Babalu first, and that’s the one I’m worried about,” Liddell told
MMAWeekly.
Asked if he was looking past Babalu, Liddell
replied, “I would never do him the disrespect of looking past him. He’s
a tough fighter, and he’s not an easy guy to knockout. I mean,
obviously, he had never been knocked out. I knocked him out, but I
caught him with a good kick, and he wasn’t out cold. The guy has won
ten fights in a row since then. He’s a great fighter. Don’t get me
wrong, I plan on knocking him out in this fight, finding a way, but I
don’t think it’s going to be easy.”
With the biggest fight in
mixed martial arts history looming in the balance, the biggest fight in
Liddell’s career is the one at hand.
Liddell stated, “The
possibility of actually getting to fight Wanderlei actually motivates
me to train a little harder to get ready for this fight. I think Babalu
is a tougher fight for me than Wanderlei. I’m going to train hard for
him, and I’ll be ready for him.”
There’s a lot of pressure on
the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion to win this fight. Not only is his
belt at stake, a loss would most likely end his quest to enter into
battle with Wanderlei Silva, throwing a monkey wrench in the plans for
the first ever real mixed martial arts world championship bout.
Liddell has never lost a rematch, but “Babalu” intends to change that on August 26th, and spoil the future plans.
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