Style: If you don’t know by now, Liddell is one of UFC’s best strikers. Liddell comes at you throwing punches from every angle he can find, which thwarts his opponent’s defense. His tenacious defense help him avoid being taken down.. He’ll sprawl, push you away and continue striking. Along with his hands come devastating leg kicks.

Strengths: Liddell has a strong chin and he’s not afraid to get hit. He makes the fight happen instead of standing there waiting for something to happen. For those who have traded punches with him, Chuck has gotten the better of the exchange. Also, Chuck can defend the takedown the same way – with punches. During his last fight against Tito Ortiz, the well-experienced wrestler (Tito) couldn’t hold him when he took him down.

Weaknesses: All of Chuck’s weaknesses are on the ground. Furthermore, only one of his fights in his entire career has been won by submission. So if his opponent manages to take him to the ground (which is yet to be seen in his last six fights) that could mean trouble for Liddell.

Quentin "Rampage" Jackson

Style: Coming from a background of collegiate wrestling, Jackson slams his opponents to the ground. He’s a well rounded fighter that’s not afraid to go toe to toe (as we seen when he defeated Chuck Liddell in their first encounter.

and overhand strikes.

Strengths: Jackson is a powerful fighter. He’s been known for picking up and slamming his opponents from the guard position. He has no problem handling himself on the ground if the fight calls for it. Jackson also has a powerful overhand strike that when he connects, it’s lights out.

Weaknesses: One of Jackson’s weaknesses is his life of testing outside the ring. From marital to fianancial, to religious, these are hard things to overcome for anyone – let alone attempt to train for championship fights as the same time. Hi record is 7-3 since he faced Liddell (all three losses by knockout). He has a tendency to get too overconfident and not focus at the task at hand.

Chuck Liddell Plan: Chuck’s one dimensional fighting style is easy to predict. Strike, strike and know the guy out. Like his fight with Tito Ortiz, Jackson is an excellent wrestler with great conditioning. Chuck will call upon his tenacious defense like the sprawl to increase his chances of landing that big punch.

Quinton Jackson Plan: Jackson needs to stay away from that right hand. In order to do that, he has to avoid coming straight in, but rather circle to his right away from Liddell’s powerful punch. This was, he can make it difficult for Liddell to set his fight to deliver the goods. He needs to throw a few punches and set up the take down instead of going for it right away.

What to expect: The X factor in this fight is what Jackson is going to do. There is no doubt in Liddell’s mind that Jackson can strike with him, so he has to be ready for anything. I expect Jackson to fake Liddell into thinking he’s going toe to toe with him like they did in the first fight and attempt to take him down. We’re in for an exciting fight here because Jackson can take a punch. It will take more than one round for Liddell to land the punch he’s looking for.

The Prediction: Money can either motivate you or corrupt you. In this case you have Liddell who most likely never has to worry about money again and a hungry fighter who is dying to get the big payday. Jackson is quoted as saying, “I’ll be asking Dana White to put six zeros behind a 10 on his check.” When you have it made there’ a tendency to sit back on your laurels. The temptation is to keep doing what you are doing and not grow as a fighter, with that comes the danger of being figured out. Don’t get me wrong, I predict Liddell connecting as he has in his last seven fights. He has also stopped Tito Ortiz twice, which in my opinion has a comparable style to Jackson. But the time will come when his faithful plan will not work against someone who has trained specifically for a man as one dimensional as Liddell. The question is, can Jackson be that man? Regardless of the fact that Jackson won their first encounter, I saw in Jackson the last man who has traded punches with Liddell and came out on top.
Since their last encounter, Jackson has grown as a fighter and Liddell has just gotten better at striking. Will that be enough? It definitely has been as of late.