The Iceman Get Knocketh Out

Tropical Storm Hanna pouring buckets of rain on New York City this past weekend was the perfect setting for an "Indoors" Saturday for the Nation. Add that to the fact that I was feeling a bit under the weather as well, and thus it was all systems go for a video game and UFC Saturday.

So at about 4 PM, TJC arrived at my apartment from Manhattan and we proceeded to finally finish Halo 3, grab a bite to eat, and then at 10 PM, watch the UFC Pay Per View headlined by Chuck "The Iceman" Lidell vs. Rashad Evans.

Long story short: Lidell got knocked the f out with a beautiful overhand right by Evans early in the 2nd round. Lidell was unconscious before his limp body even hit the ground, and Herb Dean jumped in and covered his body as if it were an exploding grenade to prevent further damage by Evans.

Lidell is now 38, has lost 3 of his last 4 fights and has been knocked out early in 2 of those losses. Talk has spawned again that he may be done as an elite fighter. Do I think he is? No, I don't think so, if he puts some tweaks into his style.

Listen, I still think Lidell has tremendous punching power, capable of knocking out anybody at anytime. And he still has one of the best sprawls and takedown defense in MMA. However, he's become one dimensional in that he's looking for that one big punch. His opponents, on the other hand, have decided that they're not going to try to take him down anymore because not only will he probably stuff it but he'll get his punches in while he's at it. Risk-reward ratio for that is so low. So his opponents have discarded that strategy and would rather try to beat him at his own game: striking. But they're not stupid enough to try to duke it out with him because he's at his best when you do that - they will stick and move and since Lidell is always waiting for that one big punch, they can wait for him to make that one mistake and they will pounce on it. Rampage did that and so did Evans. Keith Jardine kept him at bay with his strikes and never gave Lidell the puncher's chance. The one guy in his last 4 fights who went toe to toe with Lidell was Wanderlei Silva and he lost by decision.

Lidell has to stop waiting for that one punch. Against Silva, he used takedowns and showed some variety to his game and that's what he needs to do to get back to the elite again. His opponents have learned to wait for him to make a mistake since he does not change his strategy during a fight it seems. He needs to learn from his old rival Randy Couture who is the master of changing his style to suit the matchup. If he keeps on waiting for that one punch to finish a guy off, then sadly, The Iceman is done.