Liddell-Silva Scrapped...Again

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By Thomas Gerbasi

It’s one of those fights that seem destined for a lifetime of debate on message boards and in the minds of mixed martial arts fans, but never to come to fruition in the Octagon – the showdown between two of the most dominant light heavyweights ever to put the gloves on: Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva.

There was a glimmer of hope in the last couple of weeks, when terms were reportedly reached for the two future Hall of Famers to meet at UFC 76 in Anaheim, California, but Wednesday afternoon, a Silva representative informed UFC President Dana White that ‘The Axe Murderer’ did not want the fight.

“I really wasn’t holding my breath,” Liddell told UFC.com of the latest implosion of a match against Silva. “I was hoping it happened, but if the guy wanted to fight me, he’d fight me.”

For years, fans and media speculated about what would happen if the former UFC light heavyweight champion squared off against his PRIDE counterpart in a battle for the ages, and White did his best to make the fight happen, first by sending Liddell over to the 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix tournament (Liddell wound up losing a semifinal match to Quinton Jackson, with Jackson eventually facing Silva), and then by bringing the Brazilian and Liddell into the Octagon at UFC 61 in July of 2006 to square off and announce an eventual bout.

Inter-organizational negotiations eventually broke down, but with the purchase of PRIDE earlier this year by Zuffa, all obstacles were apparently removed from making the bout a reality, which was still highly anticipated by the fight world despite recent losses by Liddell and Silva to Jackson and Dan Henderson, respectively. But after this latest episode, it may be safe to say that Liddell-Silva dream match is going to have to remain just that – a dream.

“You never say it’s never gonna happen, but until you have something signed, you never say it’s gonna happen in this sport,” said Liddell. “It’s just one of those things. Before he had excuses, now he doesn’t. There’s nothing in his way now.”

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