Quick Hits: Diego Sanchez Dropping To Lightweight, Liddell Doesn’t Think Silva or Couture Fights “Make Sense”, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Dec 5, 2008 at 11:32 am ET46 Comments
Chuck Liddell
News and Notes:
- Following WEC 37, World Extreme Cagefighting awarded $7,500 bonuses to Cub Swanson and Hiroyuki Takaya for “Fight of the Night”, Bart Palaszewski for “Knockout of the Night”, and Brian Bowles for “Submission of the Night”.
- Chael Sonnen says he’s ready to challenge Anderson Silva.
- A bout between former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough and Marcus Hicks rumored for WEC 38 in January has been scratched as McCullough, who is still recovering from his November mathcup with Donald Cerrone, would not be ready to face Hicks.
- Diego Sanchez recently announced on MySpace that he’ll be dropping from the 170-pound welterweight division to the 155-pound lightweight division: “I’m training hard and will be dropping down to fight at 155.”
- The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released salary information for WEC 37 and WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres was the top-earner at the event, receiving $44,000 for his second-round TKO of Manny Tapia. The total disclosed payroll for the event was $219,000.
- Recently-crowned Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral will remain on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card and will fight an undisclosed opponent at 205-pounds.
- The NSAC announced that it tested WEC 37 fighters Miguel Torres, Manny Tapia, Shane Roller, Cub Swanson, Bart Palaszewski, Johny Hendricks, Joseph Benavidez, Brian Bowles, and Wagnney Fabrian for steroids and drugs of abuse.
- Fans named Anderson Silva the “Fighter of the Year” in the first-annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards. Other winners included Michael Bisping for European Fighter of the Year, Gina Carano for Female Fighter of the Year, and Demian Maia for Breakthrough Fighter of the Year.
Videos:
Chuck Liddell says fighting Anderson Silva or Randy Couture “doesn’t make sense”:
ESPN.com MMA Live on WEC 37, UFC Fight for the Troops, and more:
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the nightmare at 155 ! ! ! whoa. i agree with chuck but id love to see him back up his words against a game silva. he talked the talk why not walk the walk?
Kris, was there supposed to be text in this? If so, it got lost. Or maybe Justin stole it so he could see it first.
JUSTIN!!!
Nope, didn’t steal it, I was wondering where it went myself. I’ve actually had work to do this morning so, haven’t had time to get on here until now. I think Diego at 155 makes sense, he was smaller than a lot of the other 170s, but it seems like he just realized that he can’t hack it at 170 so he’s gonna try a lower weight class (again)
Damn it – need the info!!!
Its here now! Now I got to read it and watch the videos…got other stuff to do first though.
“drugs of abuse” eh?
Dude this is kool for diego since he’s a small ww. I think he will do well @ lw. As for chuck, he’s totally scared of silva and of getting ko’d again. I agree with the fact that the couture fight makes absolutely no sense but if he wants to “come back”, what better way then to take on the spider?
@ this point, like i said before, it doesn’t matter who lidell fights because it’s over for him. He will NEVER be champ again, and i think he should want to redeem himself by putting on BIG fights, LIKE TAKING ON THE SPIDER.
or i’d prefer HOuston alexander vs chuck OR vera vs chuck
yeah ide love to see chuck fight for the next few years, nothing like watching ur fav fighter, i agree with wat he said an all he got caught end of, i want to see chuck fighting the winner of rampage wandi
didnt diego try the 155 route before and never made it there?
not sure about that huerta. He started as a middleweight on TUF, then dropped to 170.
Wise move Chuck fight a Alan Belcher or Useless Alexander in Germany pal
How the fook did Silva get fighter of the year i thought Kalib Starnes was nailed on !
i think Diego is the UFC’s version of a crazy chick…he’s all over the freakin’ place, supposed to fight/doesn’t fight, big talk/no walk, etc. when was the last time he did anything of consequence, besides take a piss??!!
He got hurt, and pulled out of the fight against Alves, allowing Kos to step in and get beat… That’s consequential.
A note on MMA live, every week those guys agree on something and every week they say “I don’t usually agree with him, but…” I wish a producer would tell them to stop saying that.
Diego will definitely live up to his nickname as the Nightmare if he truly does drop down to 155. Listening to Chuck Liddell’s talk made 100% sense and he just simply got caught and no way should he retire, and once he comes back against Vera (I think UFC will make this fight) and knocks him out, everyone will jump back on the bandwagon, bunch of fair weather fans
so nobody has anything to say about sonnen’s comments
Yes i do he will kill Silva, Baby !
Someone has to believe he has a chance he did beat that Brazilian zombie who replaced Paulo Filho at WEC 36 and has a punchers chance….erm he also has cool name…..
I won’t, D-Boi, because Vera isn’t a top-65000 LHW. Ok, that may be a bit of a stretch, but it illustrates my point. A win against Vera is like kicking a chihuahua. It makes you feel good for a moment, but at the end of the day you just punted a very minor threat – little more than annoyance.
He said he was ready to face him. He never said he was ready to win.
I have to disagree with you “Us and Chuck”, Silva has the distinct advantage standing and on the ground. Sonnen is prone to submissions.
Chuck v Vera in the Philippines imo
Sonnen wont beat Silva, i just dont see that happening whatsoever
Diego dropping to 155(?) why can he not see himself as a contender @ WW
“I heard a lot of people say Paulo Filho is a better fighter than Anderson Silva. So let’s think about it: if I can beat Paulo Filho, I can surely beat Anderson Silva too.” -Chael Sonnen
dbiz,
Did you not follow the link? There were a few different places where Chael said he thought he could beat Anderson, and even mentioned how he thought he could beat him…. Someone should tell him that they test for drugs and that he should lay off of them.
Diego can’t seem himself as a contender at WW, because he lost to Kos, who got beasted by GSP, and he lost to Fitch, who also got beasted by GSP…and he would have lost to Alves, who beat Kos, who he lost to…that makes him number 5 at WW at best, then BJ moves up, making him number 6, then Shields may sign, making him number 7…so try a smaller weight class and hope you can overpower those guys. Sounds like a good plan to me.
If Sonnen was on about 3 years ago when Filho was taring it up in Pride people thought Filho was better than Silva then i would agree but this day and he beat a Brazilian zombie means he will beat Silva…….really ?
Also… I love the ESPN show but does Franklin have every MMA fighter in his cell phone. “I recently talked to….”.
diego cutting down – if he can manage he’d be scary down a division – major skillz and pace even at WW
i dont know if Diego can make the cut of weight to 155 seems a bit too much for him, well perhaps he can make the cut but can he be effective after the cut of weight he isnt exactly a natural 155′er
Sonnen beat Filho, well kinda that doesnt even put him remotely anywhere having the skillz to beat Anderson Silva, is he going to stand with Silva or take him down and leave his arm outthere as he usually does..?
I hope they don’t cut Kos. I like watching him get his ass kicked.
Glad to see Chuck out and about. No speak of a future title shot. He’s thinking realistic at least.
I used to like Babalu a lot. He did a seminar in the area and was great. Now, I think he’s a douche.
Kos would most likely go to DREAM or StrikeForce if he were to leave UFC but he should just sign the damn thing and stay in the “big leauges”, but he might be a dumb ass and get cut owell he wasnt ever going to beat GSP im sorry soon to be the WW Champ BJ Penn….
Babalu is talented cant take much of a punch imo ever since Chuck kicked him in the face, he didnt look overly impressive @ StrikeForce but he did win his first “major MMA” title so good on him for that
I don’t think they will cut Kos, if Kos goes ahead and signs the Game contract. I thought the deal was that they were cutting AKA and their fighters, since they’ve kept Fitch and few others, I believe they’ll likely keep Kos as well…I suppose we’ll find out in the next couple weeks though.
Nightmare vs Kenflo 2 what a sweet match it’ll be this time
i’d say sonnen would beat filho most of the time.
even the loss he dominated a lot of it.
that being said standing he’s a good tall striker like anderson, his hands are comparable ven – but anderson ha that footwork and 8 point striking so even standing it’s a long shot for chael. on the mat forget about it..
I hope Kos sticks around. Like I always say, some of them just don’t need to think for themselves. Surroundings can also be a problem though.
Sorry Justin. I thought this was /. and reading the linked articles was forbidden.
“this was /.”?
BTW, that was a question, not an accusation, my apologies if it came off otherwise. You’re usually good about that stuff.
If I dont post here in the next couple days guys dont worry about it just…if any of you guys can find it in your hearts just pray for my friend will and me. I am in a complete breakdown right now I almost lost my best friend will who ive known since the 6th grade in a car crash today so if you guys can any prays would be appreciated – thanks Gunslinger(Lucas)
Diego Sanchez at 155 will be amazing!
The UFC may want to see Liddell and Couture fight again, but I honestly don’t want to see it happen one more time. It’s a PPV that I likely would avoid purchasing.
Either way, I’m just glad to see Liddell is visiting a camp to work on becoming a bit more well rounded than he was training exclusively at The Pit. It’ll be interesting to see how well that works out for him…
chuck is scared of both
cool for sanchez hope he wins title no hell be really big in wieght class
We got ya Gunslinger. Hope things go well.
Sonnen will get destroyed by Silva, what a joke.
UFC fan said:
chuck is scared of both
He didn’t sound scared at all. That was no where in his statement. He is an older fighter that recognizes where he is at in his career. He didn’t mention fighting for a title once. As I stated above. I think he sees where the sport has gone and where it is going and he knows his place. That is why the fights “don’t make sense”. Not because he’s scared.
Chuck needs to fight anderson silva, to prove that anderson silva is just an exceptable fighter that beats up on fighters that dont have a chance at real fighters. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN !!! Yea, chuck has made some minor mistakes, too aggresive with rashad, he asked for it, not as aggresive with jardine, scared of rampage (because hes ugly as hell), didnt do so well with w. silva bcause he beat rampage twice (intimidated)Hope this fight happens, and dont say i didnt tell ya so when liddell smashes him either.
Silva will lose !!!!!!!!…….. Eventualy. (God, i hate that guy)
Are these two different mikes?