It was almost assured before Saturday night that Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva would rematch in March in Columbus, no matter if Silva won or lost. But the way Silva lost, by vicious knockout in which he completely lost consciousness, has certainly thrown a wrench into those plans. Silva probably didn’t lose any credibility because of the loss because he’s got enough charisma and fans love him enough to overlook losses, but there’s a very good chance that he literally will not be medically able to compete by March. He’ll be under a 90 day suspension at minimum, and that suspension would end mere days before the Liddell fight would happen, so scheduling the fight would be a risky proposition.
It’s much more likely at this point that Liddell would face Shogun Rua if Shogun were to beat Mark Coleman, and he could even face Coleman if the veteran somehow beats Shogun. Liddell vs. Shogun, originally scheduled for last May, still has appeal as a springboard for Shogun into the upper echelon of light heavyweight contenders.
