Irvin to Replace Liddell?
Multiple sources tell Sherdog.com that Sacramento, Calif.-based light heavyweight James Irvin could be the man to fill Liddell's large shoes, though the bout with Evans (11-0-1) has not been filled at this point.
I've never been the worlds biggest fan of quick turnarounds. Irvin would be looking at about 2 months between his 8 second KO against Houston Alexander and the fight with Rashad. I've seen a lot of boxers take the short notice call after getting a big win a month or two before and a lot of the time they struggle badly.
Fighters should be peaking for a fight the week that it takes place and then there is usually a decompression period of a couple weeks afterward. It isn't about how quickly the last fight went so much as the training leading up to the fight.
That being said, this would be pretty much the biggest fight that Irvin could realistically be put into at this point so turning it down wouldn't make a lot of sense. And honestly I don't think it matters if he is peaking fully or not, Rashad would grind out a decision over him either way.
Update [2008-4-22 12:12:58 by Kid Nate]:
An even worse possible fallout comes from Adam Swift:
Update [2008-4-22 19:13:42 by Brent Brookhouse]: MMAWeekly is saying that while still unofficial they have confirmed the bout with both camps
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Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Luke Thomas on Apr 22, 2008 12:05 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by pr0cs on Apr 22, 2008 12:10 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Kid Nate on
Apr 22, 2008 12:16 PM EDT
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Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by UFCmania on Apr 22, 2008 12:22 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Kid Nate on
Apr 22, 2008 12:27 PM EDT
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Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
I was running through possible replacements for Chuck last night, and the three that came to mind were James Irvin, Doug Marshall, and Brian Stann. With the news that the WEC Light Heavyweight division is going to be absorbed, we can more realistically consider those last two as possible replacements. However, Marshall probably has less name recognition than James Irvin right now, so we can eliminate him from contention.
Brian Stann is probably enough of a bigger star than Irvin to make salvage the main event status of the match (if we consider that Bisping v. Evans was a main event), but then I have no idea if the WEC is even available in England, so we discount that.
That leaves us with James Irvin, at which point the only storyline to build off of is the one suggested by Luke. It's mediocre at best, and to me relegates the match to semi-main event status, but then I am among the minority of people who will watch UFC 85 who are (more) interested in Brandon Vera v. Fabricio Werdum.
My other thought, which is probably the least likely option, is to swap Rashad v. whomever with Keith Jardine v. Wanderlei Silva. Too much fenagling required for that to happen, I figure. It's probably less likely that moving Tito to UFC 85 to rematch Rashad.
by Brett Jones on
Apr 22, 2008 1:37 PM EDT
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Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Popetastic on Apr 22, 2008 2:17 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Tha Realness on Apr 22, 2008 2:36 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Arse Kicker UK on Apr 22, 2008 3:40 PM EDT 0 recs
Re: Irvin to Replace Liddell?
by Popetastic on Apr 22, 2008 5:13 PM EDT 0 recs









