What's a Chuck Liddell...and other partying gone awry

We never really hopped on the UFC train in the first place, but apparently blogdom and other media outlets are suggesting that Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell's bludgeoning by the hands of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson could prove disastrous to the sport. All that buildup, all those magazine covers, all that money ESPN shelled out for a site that specializes in UFC coverage - could it all be for naught? Probably not. The few UFC fans we associate with say they were still, for the most part, entertained by last weekend's action. Apparently, the undercard was to die for. That's nice. We applaud them. But when you're UFC and you have a division killer like Chuck Liddell, whose gradual evolution into a brand name has closely followed yours, news like this can't be good?

That "junior doughboy" look Chuck was wearing at the fight? That wasn't just a slow metablism paunch. Maybe Liddell bought into his own hype. It happened to Tyson. Michael Moorer, too. But wasn't he fighting someone who had already beaten him once? If that's not incentive enough to hit the gym, we don't know what is.

Still, let's not bust Chuck's nuts too much. A little excess here and there is expected when you're at the zenith of your sport. A little takeout at an all-nude strip club in Toronto when you're married? That's far more interesting. At least when you're the marquee player for the most famous franchise in all of sports. What...you haven't heard about this yet? Pick up the NY Post before all the copies are gone. Trust us, it's worth a quarter.

Chuck Liddell spotted partying [Sports by Brooks]

NY Post links A-Rod, mystery woman [Fox Sports]

The UFC has arrived - or at least in the media's eyes

We've watched UFC a few times and weren't too surprised to find that we don't quite get what all the fuss is about. Maybe it's because it costs $40 for each event and there's a pretty good chance that "big fight" you're paying for will last all of two minutes. Admittedly, the beginning of UFC was pretty great. Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, those guys beat the crap out of each other and were incredibly watchable. These new guys - Chuck Lidell, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes, whoever the other main guys are - don't really compel us to shell out the same amount we pay each month for Extra Innings and its endless list of MLB games. Apparently, we've become old-school sports fans without even realizing it. We may have to rethink our policy, though, before the current UFC media blitz is through with us. Already this month, UFC has graced the cover of ESPN The Magazine, Sports Illustrated and the New York Times' sports section. Nothing to scoff at. And ESPN just bought out a mixed martial arts Web site and fused it with its own, surely a nod to the explosion of the once-obscure sport and its massive popularity among the coveted 18-49 male audience.

So, what do we make of all this? Mixed martial arts is here to stay. At least for now.


From the Edge of Madness to Fighting's Mainstream [NY Times]

ESPN launches Sherdog.com. [ESPN.com]