Stitch: What I’ll never forget about Liddell vs. Wand
Stitch Duran: “The fight with Chuck Lidell and Wanderlei Silva, I’ll never forget that. I’m right at ringside, I’m sitting with Chuck’s corner …”
Beloved cutman Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio and related a story that tells something good about him, about Wanderlei Silva, and about mixed martial arts. It took place at UFC 79; The Axe Murderer fought Chuck Liddell in the co-main event.
The event happened to fall on December 29, Duran’s birthday.
The fight with Chuck Lidell and Wanderlei Silva, I’ll never forget that, said Duran, as transcribed by Simon Samano for Stitch Duran had a very cool moment with Wanderlei Silva after epic UFC 79 fight vs. Chuck Liddell” target=”_blank”>MMAjunkie. 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.’
In fact, it was the fight of the year. Liddell defeated Wand via unanimous decision. Then Duran worked on Liddell and when he was done, he walked across the Octagon to fix up Silva, too.
I asked Wanderlei, ‘How do you feel?’ And he says, ‘No, I’m OK,’ said Duran. 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.