At 38, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell finally gets to step into the cage against former Pride title-holder Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva in the co-main event at the Mandalay Bay. While seven years younger, the hard-hitting Brazilian is a grizzled veteran himself having thrown punches and kicks professionally for 11 years.
Matt Hughes, meanwhile, looks to regain at least part of the welterweight belt at 34 when he takes on Canadian Georges St. Pierre for the interim title in a battle of former champions. Hughes is a proud, savvy veteran who will be getting more respect from St. Pierre in the cage than he has from bookies who have made the 26-year-old from Montreal a 2-1 favourite.
The Hughes-St. Pierre winner will decide the 170-pound title for real against Matt Serra in 2008 when the current champion recovers from a back injury. Either way, the UFC hopes to showcase St. Pierre in Montreal on April 19 in its debut show north of the border.
The Liddell-Silva matchup has had mixed martial arts fans drooling for years to see the marquee fighters from the UFC and Pride face off. But the waterworks have dried up a little with both KO artists having lost their last two fights - Liddell to Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and Keith Jardine and Silva to Dan Henderson and Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic.
Hughes, for one, dismisses naysayers who point to Liddell's age and recent form.
"I just don't think people understand," he said. "If you haven't had two losses, then you haven't fought the right people, to be honest. It's just unfortunate for Chuck right now that they were two losses right in a row."
Nobody has wanted to see this fight more than UFC president Dana White, who spent six years trying to make it happen only to see both men go through a lean spell once all the obstacles to the bout were finally removed.
"Finally here we are," said White.
"I can't tell you how much this fight means to me," he told the pre-fight news conference. "Seriously, I'm shaking right now. I'm never like this."
The weigh-in was uneventful other than for Liddell and Silva, who did not make nice on the podium. Liddell didn't like Silva's jaunty attitude towards him during the traditional post-weigh-in pose and flashed a gesture at the Brazilian as he walked away. Silva objected to that and moved towards Liddell but was kept away while Liddell beckoned to bring it on.
Once the poster boy for the rival Pride organization, Silva (31-7-1) trains in Las Vegas at the UFC's gym. The Brazilian has spent the last six months there preparing for The Iceman.
"I will knock you out Saturday," he said in English. "You will see."
Responded Liddell: "I promise you. I'm going to knock you out."
Asked later if there was animosity towards Silva, Liddell said: "I don't know if I dislike him. I've just been wanting to knock out him out for a long time."
Someone is going down, that's for sure. Style make fights and Liddell-Silva could be a doozy, no matter the timing.
"He likes to come after people and I like people to come after me," said Liddell, a master counter-puncher with knockout power in both hands and feet. "And we're strikers."
Pride fighters have taken their lumps coming over to the UFC. But at his best the compact Silva can do considerable damage - a buzzsaw with fists and knees.
Many will watch the fight to see if the two men still have it. Liddell has looked sluggish in his recent losses while Silva has absorbed a lot of punishment in his recent outings.
Liddell (20-5) doesn't need the money these days. There's only so much space for Hummers and luxury sports cars at his comfortable home in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He says he loves fighting and isn't ready to call it quits yet.
"I think I'm still performing at a level that I can win at. And so that's why I'm still fighting. When I feel I've slowed down to the point I can't compete anymore, I'm going to retire."
A poor showing against Silva and Liddell will likely hear lots of voices urging him to do just that.
The Iceman paid for a lazy punch against Jackson and got tagged. More worrying was the loss to Jardine when he seemed unable to make his trademark power pay.
Like Liddell, Hughes has already carved out his legacy and is headed to the UFC Hall of Fame. He has three kids at home and wants to spend time with them. Plus he has looked after his winnings. But he still has the urge to test himself against superior fighters.
"I'm not fighting for money anymore. I'm passed that. I'm fighting for battles. . . . I'm not the guy out there chasing paycheques. I'm the guy out there wanting to scrap."
With a record of 43-5, Hughes is a two-time champion who has made nine successful defences of the 170-pound crown. He's hinted that he - mistakenly - thought he could come up with a strategy to beat St. Pierre on the fly when they met at UFC 65 in November 2006. He couldn't and the Canadian, submitted by Hughes at UFC 50 in October 2004 for the vacant title in their first meeting, comprehensively beat him.
Hughes, whose UFC career dates back to UFC 22 in September 1999, is unlikely to make the same mistake twice. Expect him to show up Saturday night motivated and in shape.
St. Pierre, who is nigh unbeatable if on top of his game, says he has planned for every contingency.
"I do have a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C," he said.
St. Pierre (14-2) stumbled after winning the title, failing to prepare properly for Serra and losing the belt in his first title defence. But he seems on his game here, looking like a stone-cold assassin at the pre-fight news conference. He hardly broke a smile and was all business. "The calm before the storm," he explained.
Also Saturday on a strong undercard, light-heavyweight Lyoto Machida puts his unbeaten 11-0 record on the line on the undercard against highly touted newcomer Rameau (The African Assassin) Sokoudjou (4-1).
Notes(at): Toronto's Mark Bocek (0-1 in the UFC) meets lightweight Doug Evans on the undercard... UFC president Dana White is already calling the card a success, saying the event has been drawing enormous advance interest at bars. The show is sold out at the Mandalay Bay, which is also showing it via closed circuit in a ballroom for 2,000 more. Back in New York, there's room for some 3,000 at a closed circuit showing at Madison Square Garden.
Source: http://canadianpress.google.com