Who Cares About Couture or Shamrock, Bring on UFC 79

Let me get this over with as quickly as I can. Dana White will never let Randy fight Fedor anywhere but the UFC, this is the guy who produced an hour special just to make Tito look like a punk (will we see a Dana vs Randy; Bad Blood special), he will do whatever it takes to stop this fight or at least postpone it until not one person left on this planet cares. As for Shamrock, it is never a good idea to fight your brother. I don't know what their relationship is like, nor do I care, this is simply a bad idea.

Now that's finished let's talk Liddell vs Silva, or the fight Rampage ruined (twice?). I unfortunately didn't watch enough Pride back in 2003 to know what the thoughts on this fight were the first time Liddell lost to Jackson (who went on to lose to Silva later that night) but I do know the excitment when a superbout between the two was announced at UFC 61. I'll admit Quinton can't take all the credit for dulling the lustre of this fight, after the superbout fell through Silva's loss to Dan Henderson (at the time I at least was willing to look past the CroCop loss) dropped the Champ vs Champ billing that was at the core of the fight. Which organization had the better champion? Pride or UFC (ah, remember the old rivalry?) Then Zuffa purchased Pride and the possibility became a reality and along came Rampage, again. So though it lacks what it once had this fight still has interest and huge implications on two great fighter's careers. A loss for Liddell could mean the end but what does a win mean? Does a win over Silva put Liddell back in the title hunt or just close a chapter on a book that took to long to reach its climax? As for Silva as devastating as another loss would be he would not be alone amongst former Pride fighters who have looked less than spectacular in the octagon. We are willing to give CroCop and Shogun another chance would we feel any differently towards the Axe Murderer? Besides there is always the Tito rematch. What is probably the most interesting outcome is a Silva win, setting up an eventual third match with Rampage. Whether he beats Forrest or not this could happen especially considering Quinton's recent remarks about Pride referee's being to blame for the two losses.

Let's move on, Matt Hughes vs GSP 3. I have to admit I am a little disapointed this isn't Hughes vs Serra, so much time was invested in that fight it is starting to feel a bit like the afore mentioned Liddell vs Silva (a fight that may eventually happen but only when it doesn't matter as much). However, if Hughes can pull of the win (and that's a big if) than the fight may only have lost interest to the TUF crowd now engrossed in Jackson vs Griffin. That all being said I think Hughes vs St. Pierre is actually a better fight, I say this because I feel Hughes would have handled Serra fairly easily. I also thought St. Pierre would beat Serra easily, so much so I didn't even bother to order their fight. Imagine my surprise (just for the record I also said rollerblades were a passing fad that would never catch on)! So why is this fight so intriguing? Both of these fighters were promised a title shot and in a way both are getting it, this is a five round fight for the interim title, but what both of these guys want more than the title is a shot at Serra and that is what they are fighting for. Hughes wants nothing more than to shut Serra's filthy mouth before driving his John Deere off into the sunset and GSP wants redemption for an embarassing loss. So who's gonna win? The easy anwser would be St. Pierre. He's younger, dominated Hughes in their last fight and put on a clinic against Kos, while Hughes seemed to have no anwser for a confident GSP and was not overly impressive in his decision victory over Lytle. Hughes claimed during TUF that he hadn't trained as he should have in recent years. Will that make a difference in this fight? He also believes he has an advantge with GSP coming in as a replacement without a full camp, however, St. Pierre has stated that he did put in a full camp in case someone was injured and there was an opportunity to step in as a replacement. Is Hughes taking St. Pierre lightly again? It's the unanwserable questions that make this fight exciting. Will St.Pierre collapse mentally? Is Hughes able to reach deep down the way he used to or is he ready to retire and be with his family instead? In the end maybe GSP beats both Hughes and Serra and we'll just have to settle for three rounds of the two Matts.