What Did We Learn From 115

It’s Time for Chuck Liddell to Find His Sunset 

After 23 fights in the UFC, many of them as a headliner, Chuck Liddell has finally given the sport all he has to give. His first-round knockout loss to Rich Franklin illustrated that point in unfortunate and visceral fashion. 

The image of Liddell laid out on the canvas in a discombobulated haze as his body and brain struggled to get on the same page was something no one wanted to see, but it felt all too predictable. Liddell’s arsenal of knockout punches aren’t as fast or powerful as they used to be. The chin that used to eat return fire with ease can barely survive an exchange. 

If Dana White expects anyone to believe that he cares about his fighters, he’ll tell Liddell -- one of the men who helped make the UFC what it is today -- that it’s time to call it a career. 

Pat Barry Is Wasting His Potential 

There was a moment in the first round of Patrick Barry’s fight with Mirko Filipovicwhere he dropped his hands and embraced the man he was being paid to fight. Moments like that make for a unique visual, but it’s worrying that Barry couldn’t get over his doe-eyed hero worship of Filipovic long enough to finish the job he started. 

Cro Cop was getting outclassed by his youthful foe until Barry simply stopped doing the things that were winning him the fight. For whatever reason, Barry stopped throwing the leg kicks that were hobbling Filipovic and seemed dead-set on scoring a high-kick knockout. 

All it got him was a gas tank running on empty and a submission to a rear-naked choke with no hooks in. It’s time for Barry to throw away the junk food and become a professional, or he’ll end up just another sad story in an unforgiving sport.