Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Sports

In a brutal, bloody mixed martial arts event, Ultimate Fighting Championship brought action to fans at the Anaheim Honda Center Saturday night.

The show was UFC 76: Knockout, and though hard-hitting light heavyweight striker Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell tried to KO his well-rounded opponent "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine in the main event, he did not deliver and lost the match in an unpopular split decision by the panel of judges.

The tension was high for Liddell fans, because although his MMA record of 20 wins and 4 losses is impressive, his loss Saturday means that he has lost two fights in a row, with
his record currently at 20 wins and five losses. UFC president Dana White hinted at a three strike rule for fighters that would possibly send Liddell job-hunting after three successive losses.

"It's going to be a hell of a fight," Liddel said in a pre-match interview, "until, well, until he falls down."

Jardine (13-4), however, did not fall down. It was Liddell, in fact, who fell after a lightning-fast and powerful kick to the head with 4 minutes and 13 seconds left in the second round.

Liddell fell back after the impact and scrambled to his feet, but Jardine kept his distance and could not find an opportunity to capitalize. Jardine played Liddell's game; striking the entire match-there was not one grapple or wrestling maneuver in the main event, which resembled a kickboxing match.

All UFC non-championship matches consist of three five-minute rounds. The sport's minimal rule set recognizes 31 different fouls, including eye-gouging and biting, and
leaves most options open to fighters.

No fighter committed a foul Saturday night, but "clean" would not be accurate when describing the fighting in a UFC event. Jardine may have won his match, but he certainly did not look the part.

Early in the first round, Liddell's successive left and right hand punches busted open Jardine's face below his right eye socket. In the second, a hard right-hand shot to the left side of Jardine's face behind his ear left the fighter bleeding
profusely from that side as well.

When Liddell scraped Jardine's forehead with a glancing blow, the effect was complete; Jardine first looked as if he had a Mohawk made of his own blood to match the Iceman's,
but it dripped down his face to become a crimson mask, and down to his shoulders and chest, turning the skin of his upper torso a sickly copper color. Jardine kept his guard up

Continued...

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