Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC hall of famer. He is one of the first real mega stars in MMA. Chuck’s reign of terror coincided with the filming of the first season of the ultimate fighter which helped catapult MMA into the mainstream.
Liddell’s fan friendly style of fighting, known as sprawl and brawl, electrified audiences and introduced many new fans of the sport.
Phil Baroni, seen sparring with Liddell in this YouTube video, is another feared striker from back in the day. Known as the ‘New York bad ass’ Phil is best known for his brutal knockout of Dave Menne which is one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history.
Baroni, like Liddell, also fought in Japan’s PRIDE FC promotion which is now defunct. According to Baroni himself, this heated sparring footage was to help get Chuck ready for his first fight with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
While both being strikers, the two had very different styles of fighting. Phil was more of an aggressive brawler type while Chuck was a more patient counter striker and threw many more kicks.
In this sparring footage you can also see a young Dana White, current president of the UFC. White used to manage Chuck Liddell before taking over as UFC President with Zuffa.
Baroni comes at Liddell hard here throwing big hooking punches. This was probably done in an attempt to mimic Rampage’s style of fighting.
Chuck on the other hand is much more relaxed in his approach. Preferring to be patient and wait for countering opportunities. “Hands up Chuck!” Dana White says in the background after Baroni lands a series of hard punches.
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Though Baroni looks to be pouring it on, Chuck starts to open up with his kicks towards the end of the video. The session ends with Liddell landing a nice spinning back kick after a good combination.
