1.) QUICK jabs and angling up with people a certain way.

2.) Occasionally using a leg kick here and there

3.) BARRAGE of punches. Watch Tito against the fence, or how he would MOVE and counter (Chuck). EVEN up close, he would be too busy jabbing and throwing shots to worry—others had to cover up. Chuck WOULD inch forward, wait, inch forward find a safe kick or punch, inch forward then WHEN hurt, he’d rush guys and finish. OR, they’d get tired of being jabbed then move forward and eat something. As such, he was GOOD at putting his head on a platter then dodging the shots of others to land his (lots of pics of this floating around).

–NOW, he will not use more than one jab, he moves FORWARD a lot more but QUICKER than is effective for him, and will set up ONE punch then launch it whereas it was BEST to move head THEN land that big one, or to use a BARRAGE (pressure). I HAVE NOT seen this Chuck since his last fight with Randy. Randy ate jabs, could not hang around outside, Chuck’s hands were more UP, he did not drop the left as much. Now he is also dropping his hands.

–HE NEEDS to get back to some of that, THEN if the KO is there it happens because of LITTLE THINGS. IF NOT, he should still win the striking wars IF he follows what he once did (can he though?). He also needs to FIGHT and not think, “ONE SHOT KO” all the time. What made him special is they’d train, have an approach, then HACKLEMAN told him where he’d likely find the KO if it was there. It kept happening. NOW, he is not doing what Hackleman tells him to do, and LIMITS himself. No clinch? No elbows in clinch? He cut Wandy bad like that. LITTLE THINGS add up. He once did things that made it to where he’d be likely to win. NOW, people know he won’t do those things and they know his left will drop. NOt rocket science.

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it’s derogatory and no amount of pseudo-scholastic bullshit will change that. it started out as a slur and it has remained one of the most harmful English words ever created. no amount of revisionism will change that.

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And now my comment. This was an amazingly insightful piece that came out first and went into areas none of the top ‘beat’ writers had gone before concerning Liddell. Your personal history of fight participation does not apply with respects to your ability to provide pointed and critical commentary. When you discount your opinion by mentioning it, only YOU are discounting what comes next, not the reader…or at least not the type of reader that you want to appeal to… In other words, you have graduated from the need to qualify your resume before sharing a point…just go for it! Tremendously well written, thanks from an increasingly appreciative fan of your work. Cheers!

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Has Liddell evolved since the days of KO-ing Vernon White and Tito Ortiz?
I say no.

plus the guys he lost to Jackson, Jardine and Evans are better than Horn, Sobral, and Ortiz etc. were the type of comp Liddel faced in 2005-2006 when it appeared Liddell was unstoppable at 205

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As for Liddell, I think he is certainly far from done. However, you are right that he is terribly predictable. I’m not sure it is fair to criticize his stance that much, as it is set up to prevent takedowns, and there is no definitive MMA handbook on the “best” way to do something. Liddell has obviously been very effective with this stance, but he needs to adjust his gameplans.

Also, I totally agree that he needs to check kicks more in recent fights, but it seems he agrees, as well. Go back and watch the Evans fight again and you will see that Liddell actually moves to check leg kicks more than I have seen him do in years, and he was actually very effective at it.

Otherwise, I think you are very correct on your analysis.

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Sam, you should really check my blog more often

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