Wanderlei Silva fought Chuck Liddell at UFC 79 in 2007, and the popular former UFC cutman Stitch Duran remembers the classic fight very well.
Liddell beat Silva by unanimous decision in an intense back and forth war on the card’s co-main event. The bout was named the “Fight of the Year”, and is among one of the best examples of two fighters going toe-to-toe and slugging it out in the octagon.
One man who was close enough to see the action in all its brutal glory was former UFC cutman Stitch Duran. Duran spoke to MMAjunkie Radio recently:
“The fight with Chuck Lidell and Wanderlei Silva, I’ll never forget that,” Duran said. “I’m right at ringside, I’m sitting with Chuck’s corner, I’m working the fights, and I can just hear these punches from both these guys. They’re just cracking each other, man. That was one of those fights when I was just thinking, ‘Wow, these guys are really going at it.’”
Duran remembers speaking to Silva before the fight, and disclosing that his birthday would share the same date as UFC 79. Duran said that once he had finished working on Liddell, he approached Silva who was waiting for him:
“I asked Wanderlei, ‘How do you feel?’ And he says, ‘No, I’m OK,’” Duran said. “And then he says, ‘Happy birthday, Stitch.’ … One of the toughest fights I’ve ever seen, and he had the time enough to wish me a happy birthday. So I thought that was pretty awesome.”
