Comments on: Rashad Evans Granted Immediate Title Shot With Forrest Griffin

By: impirfekt

impirfekt — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:48:00 +0000

After the Rampage v. Liddell fight, and the masterful game planning that took place in that fight, people have Chuck’s number now. You put Chuck up against a good striker who doesn’t play into Chuck’s “chase me” counter-punching game plan, and who doesn’t constantly (hopelessly) try to take him down, and you have a winner. And when I say a good striker, I really mean they don’t even need to be that great. Just more of a traditional striker with good fundamentals, ie boxers. Chuck’s style is sloppy. He has power sure, but you frustrate him by using his counter-punching game plan against him and he comes out of his game-plan, opens up, and gets dominated by anyone who knows how to box. I can only assume the UFC matchmakers protected Chuck from any real threats for all those years because of all the money and notoriety he brought them as the recognizable face of the UFC.

Lyoto Machida should be the next up to fight Griffin, barring a Rampage rematch. No doubt about it. He was the no. 1 or 2 contender. Instead you have another TUF poster boy fighting the current “champ”. Make no mistake, the ONLY reason Griffin is champ now is due to Rampage’s poor training prior to the fight, at least partially due to the TUF coaching layoff. And poor judging. Griffin is a more intelligent fighter than he used to be, but the guy has no power! His one strong point is that he can take a hit! That does not a champ make. Still, considering Rampage is basically better at everything that Rashad does, Forrest should win this fight. Evans barely hung with Ortiz, who’s really no longer a contender. What does that say? This is a fight born out of marketing potential, and trying to validate TUF fighters as legit, which they (mostly) aren’t. Not to mention that if they went with Machida they could actually have the fight in a reasonable amount of time! Instead of a 6-8 month layoff between fights for christ’s sake!!!

I’m sorry, there’s just no excuse for the UFC to not have at LEAST one title fight in each and every UFC. The champs should each fight a minimum of 3 times per year…. The upcoming fight cards (including this last one) are a friggin joke. But with TUF you’re removing one or two champs from that equation for at least 6 months. And when they come back from it, from past experiences, it seems like they aren’t ready to fight. This in a career that is already relatively short. They’re only in their primes for so long.

By: icemanrcks

icemanrcks — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:45:36 +0000

i think if all thfighters where on one card and he charged 100 to watch ppv it would defenantly be worth it. big money. as a chuck fan i hate to see him go down but will love to watch rashad loose to forrest

By: roy

roy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:32:46 +0000

i did not give rashad a real chance in that fight especially by ko, but i still think serra was a bigger upset with this being a close 2nd.

By: ACHILLES

ACHILLES — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:10:46 +0000

SUGAR RASHAAD does deserve it you can’t argue this one he was already tagging CHUCK in the 1st round but that right hand in the second will probably be the UFC KO of the year. No one gave RASHAAD a chance especially by KO, and this was the biggest upset I have ever saw including SERRA VS GSP 1. I bet no one will underestimate RASHAAD again.

By: ACHILLES

ACHILLES — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:55:45 +0000

CHUCK has been getting dropped frequently as of late but, the LHW division has never been as deep as it is right now. For everyone who thinks RAMPAGE should get the 1st title shot you are right because of the manner in which he lost he wasn’t dominated or hulmiliated. BUT, BUT, BUT. He is facing felony charges for going balistic at JUAN IBARRA his trainer for overcharging him for a camp. That will hold up any matches for him until that is resolved. If SCOOBY was a fight promoter he would be a billionare. But DANA can’t afford to have all his best fighters on one card.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:49:17 +0000

Alex news flash Liddell had been dropped in every single fight since getting KO’d by Raampage. So yeah he does get dropped a lot just not KO’d out cold like that. But if he kept his hands up then maybe he would have blocked that punch. I know it wasnt all about blocking since Liddell tried to counter Rashad and was just beat to the punch but I think that Liddell is so cocky or WAS so cocky that he didnt even thnk Rashad could hurt him but Forrest doesnt think like that and he wont stand and trade with anyone anymore. Thats not what he is successful at. He is good at picking people apart and tries to avoid the heavy hits as best he can and will not let that punch hit him. Great yeah Rashad has some power but it wasnt just the power of the punch but how and where it hit chuck. I mean chuck was fully extended and committed to his punch and it completly just caught him right perfect on the chin so it wasnt all about power but it was powwerul but I wouldnt go as far as to say that he punches close to as hard as Rampage or Wanderlei.

By: Ryan S

Ryan S — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:18:55 +0000

I’m not sure why that typed twice. I tried to delete the first.

By: Ryan S

Ryan S — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:18:10 +0000

I would have also said the same thing about Rampage’s punch, but look what happened. Griffin can take more to the chin than Liddell can. I never said Rashad’s punch wasn’t hard, or that he’s not good, I just don’t think he will be good enough

By: Ryan S

Ryan S — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:16:36 +0000

I also would have said the same thing about Rampage’s punches, but look what happened. Griffin can take a lot more to the chin than Liddell can.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:58:21 +0000

Are you kidding me. You might not like Rashad but just look at the replay of that punch and it was powerful and right on the chin. Chuck doesn’t get knocked down much…much less out cold. You have to give Rashad some credit for power. I can’t say if that punch would KO Forrest but I would bet it could.