After Chuck Liddell lost to Keith Jardine at UFC 76 last month, it looked like MMA fans might never get to see the once dreamed about matchup between Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.
Had Liddell defeated Jardine, the UFC was set to promote their much-awaited bout between the two fighters on the UFC 79 fight card set for December 29th in Las Vegas. UFC 79 was already slated to be a star-studded event with the welterweight title fight between current UFC champion Matt Serra and former UFC champion Matt Hughes, as well a lightweight title fight between challenger BJ Penn and either Sean Sherk or most likely Joe Stevenson; but adding a Liddell vs Silva fight to that card would easly be the icing on the cake.
After UFC 79, Dana White went so far as to say that the Liddell vs Silva fight was “just not meant to happen,” leading many to believe that the fight was being called off. Most of the MMA community still called for the fight to happen and, in fact, still having the fight in December made more sense than just abandoning it altogether. Was Dana being serious or just his usual, over-dramatic self? It appears the latter might be the case.
Percy Crawford from FightHype.com recently interviewed Liddell’s long-time trainer John Hackleman who stated that they were currently preparing to fight Wanderlei Silva in December.
PC: I know you guys were eyeballing a fight with Shogun, but his knee surgery will prevent that fight from happening. Will you still like to get the Wanderlei fight?
JH: Looks like the Wanderlei fight is going to happen.
PC: Ok, is it still going to be in December?
JH: December, yeah!
So, it appears that Dana White and Joe Silva have come to the same conclusion the rest of the MMA world has and decided to continue on with the fight. If the fight still doesn’t happen this December, I won’t be the least bit surprised, but at least someone close to the situation is hinting that it will take place.
[HT: Todd]
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Tags: UFC, MMA, UFC 79, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva
