Fan favorite knockout artist Chuck Liddell has the MMA world abuzz with talks of coming out of retirement…
Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was part of a transitional era in MMA. Sporting his trademark mohawk and head tattoo, ‘The Iceman’ was an instant hit with fans.
During his storied career Liddell scored 13 highlight reel knockouts. Amassing a record of 21-8, ‘The Iceman’ beat fellow legends Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Kevin Randleman, Vitor Belfort and Alistair Overeem to name a few.
Unfortunately, as is always the case, time caught up to Liddell, and it wasn’t kind. Having held the UFC light-heavyweight title between 2005-07, by 2010 Liddell had lost five of his last six, with four coming by brutal knockouts.
After his final loss to RIch Franklin, ‘The Iceman’ rode off into retirement. It was sad to see, but also good to know he wouldn’t be taking anymore damage. An executive position was opened in the Zuffa offices for Liddell, but seven years later things have changed a lot.
“Back to Work”
Having been inactive since his 2010 retirement, ‘The Iceman’ claims he’s never given up hope on a return to fighting. During a recent interview on ‘The MMA Hour,’ Liddell expressed interest in a ‘legends’ fight against Chael Sonnen in Bellator.
Considering he was booted from his UFC job when WME-IMG took over, it’s no surprise he doesn’t fancy signing up to fight for the UFC again.
Check out Liddell claiming he’s ‘back to work’ on Instagram, and read his statement on fighting again via BloodyElbow.com:
“The Itch Never Left”
“I don’t think the itch to fight has ever left me, ever,” Liddell said on the 400th episode of The MMA Hour, per MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti. “I mean, I got paid to do what I love for a living, and I got paid very well to do it. So that’s going to always be there. That’s always going to be like, ‘Man, I wouldn’t mind getting out there again.’ That’ll always be there, and then it’s just that battle of should I? Or, is it the right thing to do? That’s what it all comes down to.”
“Talk about if I had to pick an easy big-name fight to come back to,” Liddell said of Sonnen. “If I ease into fighting again, I mean, a warm-up fight, that’s the one you’re talking about.”
Lidell also commented on the Jon Jones failed UFC 214 drug test:
“He’s his own worst enemy,” Liddell said Monday on an edition of The MMA Hour. “And he was such a great fighter, I don’t know why he decided — it seemed like he decided in his offseason that one time to start using steroids. And obviously he’s got his time in court, I guess, still. I don’t know. But it seems real obvious with his increase in size and stuff. But I don’t know that he needed that, and it just seemed like he got maybe around the wrong people, got around the wrong ideas, and decided he wanted to (use PEDs), and now he’s gotten caught. It’s sad.”
“It looked like there was a huge change in a short period of time, that one break he took,” Liddell said. “It seemed like he grew a lot over that time. So, I don’t know. I seem to think that’s when it started, but I don’t know. He hasn’t come out and said anything. It’s another tainted supplement (for UFC 214), right? So I don’t know. He gets his time in court, we’ll see what happens with that too.”
