Chuck Liddell retired from the game virtually seven years in the past — and he nonetheless misses the sport.
The previous UFC gentle heavyweight was one of many sport’s greatest stars within the early 2000’s, reigning as one of the best 205-pounder in america within the pinnacle of the UFC vs. PRIDE period. “The Iceman” informed MMA Combating he “all the time will” miss being lively within the sport and joked that “if father time hasn’t caught as much as me, I’d nonetheless be doing it.”
“I like preventing,” Liddell stated when discussing the 20-year anniversary of his first UFC title win, a first-round knockout over Randy Couture at UFC 52 in April 2005. “I’m all the time going to overlook [fighting]. That was a good time.”
Liddell was 15-3 within the sport going into that occasion at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Backyard Area, together with a third-round stoppage to Couture the primary time they met two years prior. Again from a 1-1 journey to PRIDE in 2003, Liddell stopped Tito Ortiz and Vernon White in back-to-back fights to earn a shot on the undisputed UFC gold.
“Everybody asks me on a regular basis,” Liddell stated when questioned if that was his favourite victory all-time. “For those who put a gun in my head to select, so many nice issues that occurred — but when I needed to decide one, that’s it. Avenging a loss, lastly getting the title I used to be going after, successful the present. That was a reasonably excessive second.”
Liddell retired from the UFC after dropping to Rich Franklin in 2010 however remained within the firm as a vp of enterprise improvement. He was let go after the sale of the UFC to WME-IMG. “The Iceman” returned to competitors years later, dropping to Tito Ortiz at a MMA occasion produced by Golden Boy Promotions in 2018.
“I’ve by no means not been concerned [in MMA]. I nonetheless go to do stuff,” Liddell stated. “I’m going to a few of the UFCs, a few of the larger ones I need to go to. I nonetheless observe fights. I’ve to be watching on my telephone at dinner. I nonetheless watch a variety of the fights.”
Lots has modified within the fight sports activities panorama since 2005. The UFC is now the No. 1 MMA promotion and no different is even near difficult its dominance, however athletes now have totally different avenues to pursue cash and fame, together with bare-knuckle occasions and boxing.
“I’m all for guys which have locations to go combat and generate profits,” Liddell stated. “In the event that they prefer it, that’s nice. I’ve all the time stated, if I fought a boxer again within the day, I need to combat a naked knuckle, simply because I’m used to hitting with my naked knuckles, they’re not. … I might have undoubtedly been so much busier in my profession if that they had extra fights. I imply, I feel I averaged about three fights each two years. I might have fought much more if there was extra obtainable. It simply wasn’t. The UFC had like 4 or 5, 5 – 6 [events] a yr at the moment.”
“Every little thing’s altering,” he continued. “There’s much more individuals on the market preventing. And there’s what, 45 UFC occasions a yr? And every a type of playing cards has 10 to 12 fights on it, so that you’re speaking about 60 to 100 fights slightly than 450 fights. And that’s in case you’re at UFC stage. Clearly there’s extra individuals, however there’s extra individuals doing it now.
“After I began, it was often got here with a base of putting or jiu-jitsu or wrestling and also you needed to study the opposite two. One of many benefits I had at first was I used to be a striker and a wrestler, so I had two and needed to study one. And we have been making an attempt to determine practice it and put it collectively, to do all of the stuff. Now that the fellows are coming and rising up since they’re youngsters. Everybody’s sort of found out someplace alongside. You gotta be full fighters, need to be first rate at every part after which actually good at one thing.”
The game has developed and combined martial artists are extra well-rounded than earlier than, however Liddell sees fighters usually being totally different from these from previous eras.
“After I began preventing, the house run was 150 grand a yr,” Liddell stated. “That’s in case you fought most likely three fights to get that. So there wasn’t any large factor. You bought guys that enjoyed preventing, and it’s a job the place I can preserve preventing. You had much more pure fighters. guys which can be fighters.
“At present you continue to have each, belief me, however guys which can be athletes that may combat. They’re good athletes, they usually can combat. They know combat. And typically that’s a special mindset. I imply, there’s guys that do properly, and which can be actually sort of not what I contemplate like actual fighters. They’re not nice tactically, however they are often intimidated, they will pushed to some extent the place it’s not a combat.”
Requested to call one he considers extra of a pure fighter than general athlete from right this moment’s UFC roster, “The Iceman” picked Brazil’s Alex Pereira. A protege below his longtime pal Glover Teixeira in Danbury, “Poatan” received titles in two weight lessons within the UFC after doing the identical in kickboxing.
“Oh, there’s fairly a couple of about that,” Liddell stated. “Pereira is one among my favorites, however clearly he’s from Glover [Teixeira]. However I like his angle about preventing. He’s a beast, man. So if I needed to decide one, I suppose [it’s Pereira].”
