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#3 Chuck Liddell vs. Rampage Jackson – UFC 71
By 2007, Chuck Liddell was widely recognised as not just the most popular fighter in MMA, but also one of the most dominant UFC champions of all time. Not only was he the reigning UFC Light-Heavyweight champion, but he also held the rare distinction of having avenged most of his career losses – beating Randy Couture and Jeremy Horn.
The only man left on his list of vengeance? Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, who’d beaten ‘The Iceman’ during his brief crossover to Japan’s PRIDE FC in 2003. Rampage had fallen on some harder times since then – being violently stopped by Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua – but he still came into the UFC with some considerable fanfare in early 2007.
After defeating Marvin Eastman in what was essentially a fight to introduce him to the UFC audience, Rampage was finally matched with Liddell in their long-awaited rematch at UFC 71. Despite his victory over Eastman, many fans felt Liddell would almost certainly get his revenge.
For starters, he’d apparently been injured in the first meeting between the two. And more to the point, he’d improved since then – honing his already-excellent takedown defense and striking into a seemingly unstoppable blend of violence.
Rampage had other ideas, though. After a brief feeling-out period, Liddell lunged in with a sweeping left hook to the body – and the challenger countered with a quick right hook to the jaw. Liddell – who had always been able to absorb heavy blows from his opponents, even accurate ones like this – went crashing down, and some follow-up shots left him unconscious.
Rampage had not only taken the Light-Heavyweight title from Liddell, but he’d also seemingly taken his once-iron chin. Prior to this fight, Liddell had only ever been stopped by ground-and-pound – but after Rampage’s right hook, he was knocked out cleanly a further 3 times before his retirement in 2010.
