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By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist Randy Couture is back and set to square off against the MMA wunderkind Brock Lesnar as the main event of UFC 91, taking place on November 15 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This fight will headline what could possibly be the biggest MMA PPV of all time as far as generating the most buys. This could be MMA’s answer to boxing’s Mayweather vs. De La Hoya in terms of making a ton of money for the UFC and garnering some serious coverage from the media for once. Of course we aren’t there just yet and have UFC 88 with Liddell vs. Evans taking place tonight. Remember?
Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans are like Ralph Malph and Potsie Weber to Randy Couture’s Fonzie when it comes to standing in the spotlight right now. Seriously it is as if Dana White acted like Howard “Sandman” Sims on an episode of “Showtime at the Apollo” with the way he showed up with the shepherd’s crook in order to usher UFC 88 off of the stage so that we could prepare for UFC 91. In all honesty when you put Rashad Evans in the main event, you don’t exactly put butts in the seats.
For all of the gifts that Rashad possesses and even taking into consideration his undefeated record and name recognition for being a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Evans is not a star. He may be a star fighter in terms of his skill but he is not a fighter who is a star; and he certainly is not the most crowd pleasing fighter in the 205 lb. weight class. While Evans has a chance to upset Liddell, this fight is about Chuck regaining his form and setting up a showdown with Forrest Griffin in the near future.
Evans would not be in the main event were it not for the man they call, “Iceman”. Chuck Liddell is one of the mega stars of the UFC and while he may be on the decline, his name looms as large as ever. UFC 88 is a solid card, and while not a star studded one, it was shaping up to be a night of good fights featuring Liddell, Henderson, Hamill, Franklin, Marquardt and Kampmann. UFC 88 seems really small standing in the shadows of Couture and Lesnar, that’s for certain. In our anticipation for November;,we are trying to look past September rather than see it for the good that it can be.
When you don’t know that things are going to be better tomorrow, you can enjoy what is happening today. What was shaping up to be a pretty good night of UFC action has now become an afterthought; and what seemed pretty good a week ago is now something that can’t be over soon enough. UFC 88 is like your stepfather telling you that he is going to take you to Outback Steakhouse for your birthday and then having your biological father calling you up with plans to take you to Ruth’s Chris Steak House the following weekend. You were poised to enjoy a perfectly good evening of steak and it was going to be a pretty good night; until you realized that something so much special was on the horizon.
Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans are the 12 oz. center cut “Outback Special” sirloin to Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar’s “Porterhouse for Two” from the Ruth’s Chris menu. Bigger, more expensive and quite simply is something so amazing that you cannot help but look down on that which you once considered to be a pretty good night of dining out. This is what UFC 88 was going to be, a pretty good night at the fights; until we were told about UFC 91 and its mega matchup of Couture and Lesnar.
The countdown to UFC 91 has begun, but we should not count out UFC 88 just yet, or even UFC 89 and 90 for that matter. Sure, we have a great fight on the horizon but we have some pretty compelling matchups along the way that we should stop and take notice of. Let’s not look forward to the future so much that we overlook the present and wish today away. Today is a good day; UFC 88 is coming to us live from Atlanta, GA and features the possible return of both Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson to prominence along with the chance for Matt Hamill to make a strong case for himself in the 205 lb. ranks. Take a moment from preparing for UFC 91 and enjoy that which is UFC 88 today.
Dana White is still going to be taking us to Ruth’s Chris in November but I think we can each find something on the menu at Outback in the form of UFC 88 to at least tide us over until then. Sure, UFC 88 is not as big a portion as UFC 91 will be; but I don’t think any of us will be starved for MMA until then.
In other words, don’t send the Sandman out to clear the stage before the “Iceman” gets a chance to show his stuff tonight. For that matter, it could be Rashad Evans showing that he is not MMA Ambien and breaking through to stand at the threshold of stardom. Let’s prepare for UFC 88 and go into this expecting the same things we did a week ago without the presence of UFC 91 clouding our judgment and making this card seem flat by comparison.
We can talk about UFC 91 soon enough; I mean, are we there yet?
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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