Amadi's Take
AMADI: Worthless chins vs. Declining skills; a look at two veteran afflictions
Jun 21, 2010 - 12:12:28 PM AMADI: Worthless chins vs. Declining skills; a look at two veteran afflictions

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

For years now, demand for the retirement of Chuck Liddell and Jens Pulver has been deafening. When professional fighters exit their primes and near retirement, one of two things occurs: either their ability to handle strikes to the chin diminishes due to damage that they’ve accumulated or with age their skills steadily decline. Liddell and Pulver are poster boys for those respective veteran afflictions.

In his fight against Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell looked every bit as good as he did at any point in his career. He mixed up his offense as much as he ever has, broke Franklin’s arm with a kick, worked some takedowns, and actually hurt Franklin with a punch just before getting caught flush with the quick right that put him out. Unfortunately for Liddell, you could easily sub out the name "Rich Franklin" and this perfectly describes four of his last six bouts.

He always seems to perform well, but just doesn’t have a chin capable of withstanding punches long enough to secure a victory. Prior to the Franklin fight, the argument could be made that Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, and Mauricio Rua are all top level fighters with a heavy punch. But, going into UFC 115, it was widely believed by most that Rich Franklin didn’t have the one punch knockout power to put out Liddell, and that if Franklin were to be victorious, it would have had to have been by decision. For Liddell, failing to escape the first round against Rich Franklin with his consciousness is indicative of the fact that he just can’t take shots like he used to. However, the performances that he turns in before he is inevitably lathered in the first round seems to keep him believing that he can and should continue fighting.

On the other side of decline there is Jens Pulver, who has been experiencing the complete opposite type of downward spiral. His rationale for continuing to fight despite a whopping seven losses in his last eight fights is that he isn’t being beaten up and put to sleep in fights. This isn't exactly true, but perhaps he just doesn’t remember the Joe Lauzon fight; and then again why would he?

In those seven losses Pulver has managed to be on the losing side of things in every way imaginable, and he hasn’t really performed well in any of them. Many had hoped that after he was cut by the WEC that he’d go into broadcasting somewhere and hang up the gloves for good, but “Little Evil” has resurfaced and announced that he’s booked to fight on August 14, sadly ending that announcement with “if anyone cares.”

While obviously no organization or spectator has the right to tell a man not to make a living, you have to wonder exactly what needs to take place for some fighters to call it quits. MMA is a sport that requires razor sharp skills in various disciplines and the ability to withstand punishment. For example, you can look at fighters like Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Phil Baroni, and come to the clear conclusion that they don’t have the skills to compete at the highest level anymore, but in truth, if they put in a few miraculous training camps and collect a few consecutive wins, that criticism goes away very quickly.

In contrast you can look at fighters like Jonathan Goulet, Antonio Rogdrigo Nogueira, or Keith Jardine, and see that they certainly have good technique and could potentially be a big challenge for a number of fighters, but they’ve taken so much damage that their chins have become an easy out for their opponents. However, if they developed more defense than absorbing blows to the face and moving forward, it's more than plausible that they can secure victory more times than not.

There are serious risks that come with continuing in spite of both types of decline. Fighters who consistently get knocked silly from hard shots to the head obviously risk brain damage and other long term side effects. Fighters whose skills take a downturn can get seriously hurt in a competition like MMA, where on the other side of the cage is a world class fighter waiting to rip a limb off or knock their opponent loopy. Nevertheless, deciding the greater evil between declining skills and a diminished chin is an interesting point of discussion.