Upsets rock UFC 76

FOR an event billed as “Knockout,” UFC 76 didn’t produce any, but it was sure exciting — not least due to the stunning upsets.

I caught it on Solar Sports, and up to now I’m shocked by former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightheavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell’s split decision loss to Keith Jardine.

It’s the Iceman’s second straight defeat, and what’s even more remarkable is that Keith beat him in his own game, as the two men slugged it out and didn’t make any attempt to take the fight to the ground. In fact, commentators Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan and reigning UFC heavyweight champ Randy “The Natural” Couture jokingly wondered if the two were aware that you could grapple in the UFC heh

Now you hear talks of Chuck possibly retiring. What a reversal of fortune this has been for the UFC’s biggest star, who was thought to be unbeatable just a few months ago.

Wanderlei Silva may have been the most disappointed by Chuck’s loss, next only to The Iceman and UFC president Dana White, who has been trying for the past five years to set up a megafight between Liddell and then Pride FC middleweight champ Silva. Maybe it’s just not meant to be.

The other, maybe even bigger upset that night was the victory of Forrest Griffin over Brazilian Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, whom many actually consider the best lightheavyweight in the world. Forrest spoiled Shogun’s UFC debut with a rear naked choke submission victory with just 15 seconds left in the third round, after dominating a fight that a lot of people thought Shogun would win handily.

Now we hear that Wanderlei is supposedly calling out Forrest. Let’s see what happens.

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