THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Former light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell exited on his shield Saturday night at UFC 97, knocked out in the first round by Mauricio (Shogun) Rua.
Afterwards, the 39-year-old Liddell said it was “probably safe to say” his career was over. Then he left the news conference to go drinking.
UFC president Dana White said the Liddell era was over.
“You’re never going to see Chuck Liddell on the canvas again,” White said. “It’s never going to happen. It’s done. Tonight was the end of an era. One of the greatest guys in the sport fought his last fight tonight.”
Rua, a former Pride star, crumpled Liddell with a lunging left and then finished him off on the ground with a string of hammer-fists at 4:28 before a sellout crowd of 21,451 at the Bell Centre that produce a gate of $4.9 million.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva won a drab decision over Thales Leites in the main event.
Silva, 34, won a record ninth straight fight in the UFC, erasing the mark shared by Royce Gracie and Jon Fitch, and tied a record with his fifth title defence. But Leites, billed as a dangerous ground fighter, did little to make it a night to remember other than he became the first UFC fighter to go the distance with the champion.
Silva (24-4) fought as if he only had a certain amount of punches and kicks and didn’t want to waste them. Leites (14-2) had no questions for the champion, who nevertheless was unable to put him away.
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-47, 50-46 for Silva.
“Basically sorry, next time I’ll put on a better performance,” Silva said through an interpreter.
It was Silva’s second straight disappointing showing, following UFC 90 when Canadian Patrick Cote had to quit early in the third round when his knee gave out.
Asked what he thought of the main event, White said: “I wasn’t thrilled with it.” Asked if he was embarrassed, he replied: “A little.”
Liddell had lost three of his last four coming in, including a devastating knockout at the hands of Rashad Evans last time out at UFC 88. White had said he needed to “dazzle” Saturday to keep fighting. Liddell ended up dazed and on his back again, however.
Rua, 27, had looked sluggish in his two previous fights in the UFC, losing to Forrest Griffin and beating 44-year-old Mark (The Hammer) Coleman. The Brazilian was a lot crisper Saturday, matching and then besting Liddell on his feet. He won the US$70,000 knockout of the night bonus.
Liddell drew a huge roar from the crowd even in defeat.
“I’m disappointed, I had a great camp, I was in great shape . . . I don’t know what to say right now,” Liddell said in the cage.
White went into the Octagon after the fight to commiserate with Liddell, a friend and former client during his days as a manager. Liddell returned to the arena, beer in hand, to see the end of the main event.
Leites, entered wearing sunglasses to the strains of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, came in as a 5-1 underdog despite having won five in a row.
It was a cautious first round but Silva scythed Leites down with a kick and fought off a takedown. Leites did take the champion down early in the second, but Silva defended himself well against his fellow jiu-jitsu black belt and fought his way back to his feet. There was a smattering of boos as the round ended.
And there were more in the third as Leites, who seemed to be poked in the eye early in the round, kept ending up on his back while Silva looked down, trying a few kicks before motioning him back up. The crowd chanted ‘GSP’ for welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre who was cageside.
In the fourth, Silva chopped away at Leites with kicks. A failed Leites takedown left the challenger on his back again like a flipped-over turtle. The boos grew louder.
It was more of the same in the fifth, with the crowd chanted “Bullshit.”
The card marked the UFC’s second foray into Canada. UFC 83 last April was a record sellout for the organization with the crowd of 20,011 setting a North American mark for mixed martial arts. UFC 97 was an even faster sellout.
Canadians won five of seven fights on a night that may be remembered for Liddell’s MMA swansong.
Liddell still knows how to make an entrance, coming in to “Raining Blood” by Slayer, the musical equivalent of having a sharp stick jabbed in your forehead. The crowd roared as the Iceman, following Rua’s entrance to techno music, entered the cage to the driving guitar beat and the Bell Centre rocked during the fight introductions.
The two exchanged blows and takedowns after a cautious opening to the round and Liddell showed more movement than in recent fights. But Rua (18-3) took advantage of an opening in his defence and Liddell’s chin could not stand the test.
Earlier, Ed (Short Fuse) Herman won a unanimous, lopsided decision over Montreal middleweight David (The Crow) Loiseau, who showed virtually nothing in his return to the UFC after an absence of 2 1/2 years. Herman (17-6) manhandled Loiseau but could not finish the Canadian, who spent much of the fight on his knees and turtled.
It was Loiseau’s eighth UFC fight but first since he was released following losses to Mike Swick and Rich Franklin (in a title fight at UFC 58). And it may be his last after a woeful performance.
Loiseau (18-9) came out with two spinning back kicks but other than one punch in the third, it was all the offence that followed. As the fight ended, St. Pierre was on his feet cageside, urging his friend to turn it up, but Loiseau remained rooted in neutral.
It was also a tough night for Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald of Red Deer, Alta., the victim of some first-round Nate Quarry ground and pound.
MacDonald (22-12) tried to take Quarry down early but ended up on the bottom at the fence as the two men fell. Quarry (17-3) used his elbow to open up a wicked gash on MacDonald’s forehead and kept hammering away at the bloody Canadian until referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in at 2:27 of the first round.
It was MacDonald’s second quick stoppage loss, following a TKO at the hands of Wilson Gouveia in December.
Welterweight T.J. Grant (14-2) of Cole Harbour, N.S., won his UFC debut via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28) over Japanese veteran Ryo (Piranha) Chonan (15-10) in an entertaining bout fought mainly on the ground. Grant, a purple belt in jiu-jitsu and former provincial wrestling champion, was effective from the bottom and scored several good takedowns.
Lightweight Mark Bocek (7-2) of Woodbridge, Ont., also looked impressive in choking out Brazilian-based Swede Mark Bielkheden (13-7) at 4:57 of the first round.
Winnipeg light-heavyweight Krzysztof (The Polish Experiment) Soszynski made short work of Brian (All-American) Stann, submitting the former WEC champion at 3:53 of the first round. Soszynski, who fights out of Temecula, Calif., took Stann down twice — almost pulling his shorts off in the process — and then twisted his arm into a kimura.
“This is the best feeling ever . . . Thank you Montreal,” said Soszynski, who won $70,000 for submission of the night.
Stann, a former U.S. marine who won the Silver Star in Iraq, entered to AC/DC’s “War Machine.”
Former Pride fighter Denis Kang evened his UFC record at 1-1, winning a unanimous decision over French kickboxer Xavier Foupa-Pokam. The Vancouver middleweight, who trains out of Montreal, used three takedowns to subdue the French fighter, who seemed exhausted by the end of the second round.
Lightweight Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout of London, Ont., won a decision over (Handsome) Matt Wiman (10-5), who literally ran out of the cage after hearing the decision. Stout (15-5-1) snapped a two-fight losing streak and collected $70,000 for fight of the night, as did Wiman.
France’s Cheick Kongo stopped Antoni Hardonk of the Netherlands at 2:29 of the second round in a battle of heavyweight kickboxers. The more athletic Kongo (24-4-1) took Hardonk (8-5) down twice by catching kicks and finished him on the ground the second time, bloodying him up with elbows and hammer-fists.
Brazilian light-heavyweight Luiz Cane (11-1-1) used superior striking to win a unanimous decision over Steve Cantwell (7-2). Cantwell is another former WEC champion, having won the 205-pound title from Stann.
Light-heavyweight Eliot (The Fire) Marshall won a decision over Brazilian Vinny Magalhaes in a battle of Season 8 “Ultimate Fighter” alumni in the opening fight of the evening, a matchup of jiu-jitsu black belt contested mainly on the feet. The decision was greeted by boos.
