Who Will the Iceman Face?

In the wake of the tragic news about Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's re-injury, we are all left wondering, "who will be Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell's next opponent?" Shogun was scheduled to fight the Iceman on June 7 at UFC 85 at the O2 Arena in London England. Rua has a ruptured ACL in his left knee, so he's out of the long awaited battle with Chuck, and an injury of this severity "can be career ending" (per mmahq.com). This is bad news for the great number of fans that have been anticipating this matchup. And the fans aren't the only ones that are disappointed. According to mmaweekly.com, Rua spokesman Eduardo Alonso stated that, "I’ve never seen Shogun so motivated for a fight like this in years. This was like a new beginning for him".

Now that the anticipation is over, we are anxious to see who Chuck is matched with. Since one main focus of Chuck Liddell is to avenge his losses, a Liddell Jardine match would be amazing. Unfortunately Jardine will face Wanderlei "Axe Murderer" Silva next in the UFC, so he is off limits.

My own poll of Myspace users revealed that some people would love to see Anderson Silva move up in weight class since he has already dominated at 185. Even more want to see Chuck and Rashad Evans duke it out, as would I, however, Rashad is fighting Thiago Silva at UFC 84, so that isn't likely. Brandon Vera could have been a possibilility but he will fight Werdum and says their fight is "100% confirmed" (mmafighting.com). Since "Liddell believes he is one fight away from a title rematch with Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson" (sports.setanta.com), Liddell may get an opponent handed to him on a silver platter to make a Rampage - Liddell fight possible. Forest Griffin might have a strong opinion on the likelihood of Liddell and Jackson's fight occurring. In the meantime, how about Stephan Bonnar? Bonnar looks like he might be a good appetizer for Liddell.

Whomever Chuck is matched up against, despite a bumpy road in Chuck's recent fight career, he now looks like a hungry man on a hunt and he is sure to put on a good show for MMA fans.

by JP Berube aka MMA Commentator