Chuck Liddell vs LHW division of 2020

He was also like 38 when he lost to Jardine. Sure, he was one fight removed from being UFC champ, because PRIDE had the majority of the best 205'ers in the world and 2007 was the year UFC absorbed many PRIDE fighters. No surprise a younger Rampage beat him again for the belt. Chuck was never the best in the world, but that was a far deeper and more skilled 205 weight class worldwide than today's 205 scene.

Guys like Smith would not be ranked in the top 10 in the 2000s.

I agree that the evolution of the sport is so overstated in these boards.

But Anthony Smith is underrated as well in this forum. He certainly could beat ranked guys 15 years ago. I mean he has beat Gustaffson and Oezdemir and went the distance with Jones even if an awful fight
 
He was also "like 35" when he ein the belt. Off a 41 year old.

Gus (Bones' first real challenge) wouldnt be a contender in '05 either huh?

Please stop.

Yes. He was old and so was Randy. He was even older and more broken down by the time he fought Jardine. A 2002 Chuck does not lose to Jardine.


I agree that the evolution of the sport is so overstated in these boards.

But Anthony Smith is underrated as well in this forum. He certainly could beat ranked guys 15 years ago. I mean he has beat Gustaffson and Oezdemir and went the distance with Jones even if an awful fight
I have a lot of respect for Anthony. He has a lot of fights. He is a warrior.

He would have a chance at upsetting some of these guys but he would be absolute underdog against the ranked fighters in the 2000s

Shogun
Wanderlei
Rampage
Lil Nog
Arona
Overeem
Chuck
Randy
Vitor
Hendo
Tito
Babalu

I would pick the 2005 versions of all those guys over Smith.

Then around 2008 you had

Machida
Rashad
Forrest
Rampage
Thiago Silva
Jardine

I could only see Smith possibly winning against Forrest and Jardine
 
Chucks defense was god awful like legitimately bad.
Welcome to 2019 Miopic vs DC 2, no head movement, just stand and bang for 4 rounds, take 1 give 1.

Prime Chuck could probably cut to MW these days. Would be an awesome matchup vs Izzy
He overlapped with Anderson Silva, who was the biggest MW and still is. Chuck was already lean at LHW.

Liddell losesbadly to Santos and Reyes. Probably Smith too. And Volkan, Rakic, Gus, etc.
Just stop dude.
Maxhida, DC 2x, Rashad, Eampage...never lost


Stop. You're embarrassing tourself.
Machida had GaoAT TDD.

Dix you see what Bones did to hiim?
Nobody destroyed Machida like Romero did.

Lot of ppl in this thread don't realize the legends from the last generation of fighters are NOT that far removed in skill level from the current generation. It ain't like the difference between the 1st Gen fighters and the 2nd gen fighters. THAT was a huge gap.

Now we're on the 3rd gen and the skill gap is NOT that big! Plus the last gen fighters were generally a lot tougher ppl than today's "athletes." Matt Hughes got popped hard in the nuts by Frank Trigg, pounded on for like 2 solid mins after that, and THEN picked him up over his head and ran him all the way across the ring and slammed him into Hughes' corner. And won that fight. Guys today (with some exceptions) just aren't made that way. A lot of them would fold in positions like that.

Point is, the LHW legends from the last gen (guys like Chuck, Wand, Shogun, Rampage, Randy, Vitor, Lil Nog, and even Tito) would likely still give the current guys today a LOT of problems. And imo the last gen guys would win more than they'd lose against today's guys.

Prime Chuck today imo would be top 5 for sure. Very possibly top 3. The two guys I see giving him the biggest problems are Jones and DC (when DC was LHW). Those are hard fights for Chuck. But I've always liked prime Chuck's chances against Jones more than any other LHW legend. His style and attributes pose interesting problems for Jones. I would've leaned toward Jones to win....but I wouldn't be shocked at all if Chuck pounded him out, either.

Chuck vs DC would've been fun too. And completely different than Chuck vs Jones. I really don't know how that would have gone. I think DC probably has the style and attributes to beat prime Chuck. He probably would've been a harder fight for Chuck than even Jones would've been.
I think of Fedor and Anderson as 3rd gen fighters.
Also when you think of Wanderlei Silva, you think of this:
wandyripped.gif



USADA Wandy would not look and perform like that. Today's fighters have to cut down on the juice, they are leaner and cleaner, we barely get to see ripped fighters anymore, like Jeremy Horn

Agreed 100%.

Plus DC has that crazy wrestling, and he's short and stocky which is a great build for a wrestler. And Chuck is tall and long. Chuck had the best TDD in the game back then, and imo it's STILL some of the best TDD ever. Could DC get Chuck down? I can totally see him getting Chuck down tbh. Numerous times. But......could dc KEEP chuck down? That's interesting and I really have no idea.






But yeah I see it like you do. I see DC hurting Chuck on the feet more than anything else. Because of his TD threat and his ability to mix the TD's with the striking. He hits hard and his punches are surprisingly fast...and would clock Chuck for sure at some points. But could prime Chuck's chin take it? Idk.

Also, would Chuck have eventually discovered DC's weak spot in his body? Stipe kinda proved DC has a soft gut and doesn't absord body shots too well. Chuck used to throw HARD body shots.

Man, the more I think about that matchup the more I wanna see it.

DC would continuasly take down CHuck for 2 rounds and I have a feeling he will gas out in the 3rd like he always does. Chucky can KO him in the 4th.
 
Shogun was a relevant LHW as late as 2013. After Shogun hit the scene I don't think there was ever a point Liddell was considered better than him.

Shogun was on a different level.

the fact that he was relevant in this last decade in the division shows that all this "it's evolved" is a bunch of horse shit. i don't care if he's better than Chuck, the point is he's from a bygone era AND STILL in the top 15. while in the same thread people are acting like it's laughable that Chuck could break the top 10 in HIS PRIME????
 
You really think chuck would be able to keep it on the feet in the morden game the way he used to, when all he had to really worry about was guys diving for a double from miles out? I think he would struggle with any competent jabber that could move half decently.
Jabbing on the way in leaves one open to counter-strikes, which was his specialty. Randy Couture's specialty, for instance, was Greco-Roman, which isn't shooting, it's clinches and upper-body throws (and Randy was pretty good at jabbing on the way in, as Sylvia found out), so your contention that all it was back in his days were guys taking lame shoots from outside without setting them up is a bit of revisionist history. His takedown defense would still translate well, as would his striking.

Like I said earlier, the fight game didn't evolve past him, he got old.
 
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Smith is 16-3 since age 25. 2 of those losses to Santos and Bones. Beat Volkan, Gus, and a rejuvenated (at the time) Shogun.

Yes. I believe he is currently a much better fighter than '05 Tito, Babalu, or Jeremy Horn.

Machida was "smaller" than Tito too lol


LOL this is the worst post of all time.

Rejuvinated SHogun? What the hell does that even mean? He somehow was less washed up and damaged? Horseshit. He was chinny and a shell of himself, and it showed in his "wins" at the time- the LHW division just got so bad ancient SHogun could still rack some up.

Smith is terrible. His "resume" is littered with has been shells.


Volkan has achieved nothing of note either.
 
LOL this is the worst post of all time.

Rejuvinated SHogun? What the hell does that even mean? He somehow was less washed up and damaged? Horseshit. He was chinny and a shell of himself, and it showed in his "wins" at the time- the LHW division just got so bad ancient SHogun could still rack some up.

Smith is terrible. His "resume" is littered with has been shells.


Volkan has achieved nothing of note either.


Smith is mo Sokojdou...I'll give you that.











Leben hurt Wand with the first punch hd threw....Leben...killled Wand....LMAO lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol
 
Smith is mo Sokojdou...I'll give you that.











Leben hurt Wand with the first punch hd threw....Leben...killled Wand....LMAO lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

Yeah, nice post completely avoiding addressing your moronic claim that Shogun was somehow rejuvenated lol.
 
3282EFCA-75E2-4018-9835-8D0FFCF25AF3.jpeg I think he loses to jones and Reyes ....but has a great chance against the rest imo
 
So many noobs on here ....Lol at Chuck being outsized against blown up MW’s
 
If you read it, I didn't say Chuck would beat either of them. Just that they would've been interesting fights and that Chuck especially would've posed really interesting problems for Jones.

I can imagine DC beating Chuck worse than Jones would, just because of how their styles and attributes match up. Chuck would've beat the crap out of Jon, win or lose. Jones would've definitely known he had been in a fight, even if he beat Chuck. But I could see DC steamrolling Chuck a lot easier for some reason. But who knows?
You’re getting carried away lol ...Jones beats the shit out of Chuck .... get serious
 
You sound like the kinda guy that didn't actually watch Chuck fight in his prime.
Ive seen all his fucking fights including bare knuckle against Pele ....I said earlier I like his chances against all current LHW not named Reyes or Jones .... but if you want to come at me with that weak shit ... feel free.....I got 11 years of Sherdog on you rookie
 
Ive seen all his fucking fights including bare knuckle against Pele ....I said earlier I like his chances against all current LHW not named Reyes or Jones .... but if you want to come at me with that weak shit ... feel free.....I got 11 years of Sherdog on you rookie

My first acct was in 04....noob. But Nostromo used to ban me all the time, lol.

But I didn't see your earlier posts about liking his chances against all but Jones and Reyes. I assumed you were one of those ppl saying prime Chuck couldn't beat any of the current top 15 lhws. So that's my bad.
 
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