Sports Talk: Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell Is Back, NBA's Trade Frenzy & More

Thursday - February 21, 2008
By: Mike Monson

MMA

Liddell back in the octagon: Former UFC Light Heavyweight (LHW) champ, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, has signed to fight Mauricio "Shougun" Rua on June 7th in the U.K. The UFC hasn't officially made an announcement, but both fighters have confirmed the fight is signed. Chuck is coming off a classic battle with Shougun's former teammate, Wanderlei Silva, at UFC 79. Chuck and Silva battled it out for three rounds, before Chuck securing the win with a take down, ending Liddell's two fight loosing streak and putting him back on course to the belt.

Shougun is coming off one on the biggest upset losses in MMA history to "TUFF" show season 1 winner, Forrest Griffin, at UFC 76. For those of you who don't know much about Shougun, he made his name in Pride fighting where he was the Pride grand prix LHW champ in 2005. He also holds a KO victory over current UFC lightheavey weight champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (rampage has beat Liddell twice). This will be a stepping stone to a title shot for one of these fighters.

Chuck is already one step closer because of his victory over Wanderlei. In that fight, Chuck was given a preview of what to expect from Shougun. He and Wanderlei have similar fighting styles with the only difference being that Shougun might have a little better Jiu-Jitsu game, but that probly won't matter much because I see this fight being a stand up match. Chuck should have an advantage in this fight, but on the other hand Shougun has a lot to prove to the American fans. In his last fight against Forrest, Shougun was fatigued by the second round and couldn't even keep his hands up. With all the rumors going around MMA message boards that Pride "allegedly" did not drug test its fighters in Japan, it made a lot of fans wonder about the Shougun that seemed relentless on his opponents in Pride. If Shougun can come in healthy, confident and conditioned and put on a good fight, then all those rumors will go away win or loose.

Kimbo Slice; Credit: Kimbo305.com
Kimbo Slice knocked out Tank Abbott on Showtime, Saturday night (February 16). It was over in 43 seconds just like I predicted. It was pretty much what you see on all his Youtube fights -- Kimbo dropping bombs, ending fights in KOs. But, I did see a soft spot in Kimbo's armor in that 43 seconds and that is Tank was able to clinch with Kimbo and get him against the cage for a couple seconds before he was over powered. If Kimbo's next opponent can clinch him, he might be able to get a takedown. The thing about that is we would get to see Kimbo play the ground game. I'm positive Bas Rutten has prepared Kimbo for the ground game.

NBA: Trade Frenzy

The Lakers are still looking to improve the beast of a team they created last week. The word out of El Segundo is the the Laker brass doesn't feel that Lamar Odom is the type forward they need him to be. The Lakers need a more consistent shooter at the small forward spot and Lamar isn't dependable at knocking down shots. There's "talk" that they want to put Kobe's boy, Caron Butler, back on the roster.

Mike Bibby
The Atlanta Hawks added some much needed leadership and a 3-point shooter, when they acquired Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings. The Hawks had to give up Tyrone Lue, Anthony Johnson, Lorenzo Wright and former 2006 5th overall lottery pick, Sheldon Williams. With this trade, the Hawks get that extra weapon to compliment shooting guard Joe Johnson in the back court. They should be able to get a four or five seed in the East come playoff time, thanks to the trade.

The Dallas Mavericks finally got a deal done with the New Jersey Nets, which has been in the making before the All-Star Game. With Maverick Devon George blocking the trade, it sent both GMs back to the conference room. The trade brought Jason Kidd, guard Antoine Wright and forward Malik Allen to Dallas, while New Jersey got center DeSagana Diop, swingman Maurice Ager, point guard Devin Harris, retired forward Keith Van Horn, Trenton Hassell, two first-round draft picks, and $3 million. It's funny, last week, Marc Cuban was crying about the Laker trade for Gasol, saying there should be a commission to review all trades, but this guy goes and trades Keith Van Horn... the dude is retired! I wonder if Marc still feels the same about his bullsh-- commission. I doubt this trade will bring a championship to Dallas though. This team still lacks the heart and killer instinct championship teams have, even with Kidd averaging a triple double and his leadership skills. It will be that lack of heart on the rest of Mavs (Dirk) that will end their playoff run. The Nets did ok in this trade. Devin Harris is a young player with loads of potential to become a solid point guard, as well as some serviceable players. The Nets weren't doing anything anyway, so it wasn't a bad idea to trade a 36-year-old, at the end of his career.

The Clippers: Elton Brand practiced in some non-contact drills with the Clips on Monday (February 18). He said he plans on being back this season. I guess he wants to help the Clips hold on to 13th place in the West.

The Heat are working hard at rebuilding their team. There are rumors of trade talks with Warriors, Grizzlies, Memphis. The Chicago Tribune also said Knicks center Eddy Curry could be a possibility to end up in Miami, but they just got rid of Shaq that didn't play, so why would they go for Eddy Curry? He doesn't play either.

The Suns finally have Shaq in their line-up. He played Wednesday night (February 20) against Kobe and the Lakers. "Every time that I've won a championship, I've looked at my guys around me and looked at their work ethic and said 'You know what, I'm going to win it this year,"' O'Neal said. "I feel that way now." Suns fans are hoping this is what they need to get them there first championship, but lets be realistic: Shaq's body is fragile. He will play about 15-20 minutes a game, and he has a bad left side. His hip has soft tissue damage and in 2006, had surgery for torn cartilage in his knee. It will be interesting to see how many games he actually plays in.

NFL

The Falcons cut six players in their journey to start the Post Mike Vic Era -- QB Byron Leftwich, DT Rod Coleman, WR Jamin Elliott, LB Marcus Wilkins, CB Lewis Sanders and 4-time Pro Bowler TE Alge Crumpler. "This is a difficult day for the entire organization," said Thomas Dimitroff, the Falcons' new general manager. "A number of these players have contributed to this organization on and off the field at a high level, and we greatly appreciate their efforts." The cut of Crumpler isn't a shock, considering he was cursed with knee problems, takes up $5.1 mill in cap space. The fact that backup, TE Dwayne Blakly, is a serviceable player, makes it a good move for a rebuilding Falcon team. Look for Crumpler to end up in Tampa Bay or Carolina.

The Patriots are interested in 7-time Pro Bowler Zack Thomas. The former 5th round draft pick was probably jumping for joy when he was released by the rebuilding 1-15 Dolphins on 2/14. Thomas is also set to visit Dallas and New Orleans.

The Ravens will franchise tag their LB and DE Terrell Suggs in hopes this will lead to a long term deal. Suggs has made it know that he wants to stay a Raven.

The Colts' got TE Dwight Clark for at least one more season when he received the franchise tag after talks of a long term deal did not go through. However, the team did get a 5 year $37.5 million deal done with defensive player of the year safety Bob Sanders.

The Dolphins are trying to trade their first overall pick in the upcoming draft, but I doubt a team will step up to take on the hassle of signing the pick .

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