By Zach Arnold

2007 was an odd year in the career of Rashad Evans. He had a semi-controversial draw with Tito Ortiz in Sacramento (at Arco Arena) and then topped it off with a relatively ugly fight in November ‘07 against Michael Bisping. Two totally forgettable bouts. Unlike his previous two fights, Rashad’s fight this Saturday night against Chuck Liddell will be anything but unforgettable.

For the hardcore and casual fans, Evans isn’t exactly a fighter that moves the needle. Yes, he had that spectacular knockout against Sean Salmon. However, Evans really hasn’t managed to generate much excitement amongst MMA fans and especially UFC’s audience. All of this can change on Saturday night if Evans manages to derail Chuck Liddell’s career by giving Liddell a big fat L in the record column.

It’s crystal clear that Liddell is set-up to face Forrest Griffin on December 27th in Las Vegas at UFC 92. A win by Liddell sets up a huge-money fight that UFC desparately wants to have. There’s already discussion that Rampage Jackson, currently undergoing some serious legal issues, will either face Wanderlei Silva or Mauricio Shogun on the same card. Then there’s the case of Rich Franklin moving up to the 205-pound division, and suddenly things have gotten a lot more crowd. Right now, Evans is just another warm body in the division. He can change all of this with a big win against Liddell.

A win by Evans over Liddell would completely turn the 205-pound division upside down. It would scramble all of UFC’s current marketing plans for their premiere division. A loss by Evans will cement his place in the second-tier of the company as far as marketable superstars is concerned.

Certainly, Evans goes into the fight as a big underdog. We’ve seen Chuck Liddell face a strong wrestler before in Tito Ortiz. Liddell had little trouble fending off Ortiz’s takedowns, similar to what Lyoto Machida displayed in terms of defensive skills against Ortiz. However, it’s safe to say that Evans is on the way up while Ortiz is on the way down in terms of having that explosiveness as a fighter in regards to their amateur wrestling skills. More importantly, the wildcard for this fight has nothing to do with Evans himself but rather all about which Chuck Liddell is going to show up. Are we going to get the Chuck Liddell that we saw in the Wanderlei Silva fight or are we going to get the Chuck Liddell that showed up against Keith Jardine?

The big x-factor and positive factor for Evans going into this fight is that Liddell is coming off of a torn hamstring injury. No matter how much time you have to rest and recover from this type of injury, you are never fully 100%. Liddell is explosive and he, no doubt, will be heavily motivated to win the fight. However, Evans is affiliated with the same camp as Keith Jardine is, and you better believe that Greg Jackson will be crafting an excellent game plan to counter-attack anything Liddell brings in terms of offense for this fight.

Evans will unquestionably be an underdog in the fight, but not as big of one as you would expect. Too many people in the MMA business may be underestimating him right now.

One fighter who will not be underestimated in the 205-pound division, however, is Rich Franklin. Forced with the proposition of bumping up against a glass ceiling in the 185-pound division or expanding potential matchmaking opportunities at Light Heavyweight, Rich Franklin made a pretty easy decision. Franklin is scheduled to face Matt Hamill on the undercard of this Saturday’s UFC 88 event in Atlanta.

Hamill presents a major test for the veteran Franklin, who is coming off of some brutal beatings. He has taken an enormous amount of physical punishment in his last several fights in the cage. Hamill, on the other hand, is young, hungry, and turning into a damn good fighter with a lot of heart. It’s really easy to root for Matt Hamill and he always brings it. The fight is a classic match-up of the wise, aged veteran against the young, up-and-comer who has a ton of heart and an aggressiveness that his opponent may not be able to match. There’s no question that, on paper, Franklin should win this fight. However, Franklin was able to be a very powerful 185-pound fighter after cutting weight. At 205 pounds, he won’t be cutting much (if any) weight at all. You would think Hamill would have a power advantage going into this fight and that could spell trouble for the former UFC Middleweight champion.

Simply put, Franklin needs to win this fight against Hamill or else his career is in real trouble. He, like Rashad Evans, could end up being relegated to the second tier of UFC’s superstar roster line-up. If Franklin is able to beat Hamill at UFC 88, then a ton of matchmaking opportunities open up for him in the 205-pound division. Remember — Franklin has not fought at 205 pounds since facing Ken Shamrock a few years ago. It would be fascinating to see a re-match between Rich and Lyoto Machida, who faced Franklin on NYE 2003 at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye event at Kobe Wing Stadium. A lot has taken place in the careers of both men since that fight happened, and the re-match would be a pretty sweet fight to watch.

The table for both Evans and Franklin is set on September 7th at UFC 88 to define their career paths. If Evans wins, he’s in line for a title shot. If Franklin wins, his career is prolonged. If either man loses, they will at a legitimate crossovers in their career as far as who (or where) they will be fighting next. It should make for some very good drama this Saturday night in Atlanta.

This Saturday’s UFC 88 card:

Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
Jason Lambert vs. Jason MacDonald
Dong Hyun-Kim vs. Matt Brown
Tim Boetsch vs. Michael Patt
Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Martin Kampmann vs. Nathan Marquardt
Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares
Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill
Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans