Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, 46, appeared recently on The Fighter and The Kid podcast, and discussed former and perhaps future division champion Jon Jones, 28.
Jones was stripped of the title over legal issues, that have since been resolved. He fights new division champion Daniel Cormier on April 23 at UFC 197 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“We’ll see how he comes back,” said Liddell, as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMA Fighting. “He always shows up to fight. He’s good at winning fights. If he keeps beating everybody he’s the best right now. I still think if he fought someone like me in my prime he would have a lot of trouble.
“The problem is he doesn’t hit hard enough to hurt me and he’s not going to out-wrestle me. He’s not going to out-wrestle me and I hit too hard for him. I would catch him sooner or later. Styles make fights.”
“What he does really well, if you’ve got a guy that’s a great striker, he can out-wrestle them. If he’s got a guy who’s a wrestler, he can out-strike him, out-point him. For me? I’d be big trouble for him because if he could take me down he wouldn’t be able to keep me down, if he even got a takedown. I will hit him. I’ll put my hands on him. I could still give him trouble.”
UFC Hall of Famer, Charles “Chuck” Liddell better known as the Iceman was one of the most dominant champions who ever competed in the UFC. Second only to Anderson Silva in number of KOs, Chuck fought 23 times in the Octagon between 1998 and 2010. A student of Koei-Kan karate since age 12, The Iceman began his fighting career as an amateur kickboxer with a record of 20-2, 16 KOs. He made his mixed martial arts debut at UFC 17. He opened his career 2-1, suffering his first loss at the hands of Jeremy Horn; a loss he would avenge six years later as UFC Champion.
Chuck would go on to fight three times in PRIDE as a representative of the UFC. It was in Pride that he knocked out Guy Mezger and Alistair Overeem. Following a TKO at the hands of Rampage Jackson in the Semi-Finals of the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix, Chuck would finish the rest of his career under the UFC Banner. At UFC 52, Chuck avenged his previous loss to Randy Couture and won the Light Heavyweight Championship belt in the process. He defended his belt four times defeating Jeremy Horn, Couture 2x, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Tito Ortiz; before losing the title to his old Pride nemesis, Rampage Jackson.
Post Light Heavyweight Championship, Chuck lost four of his last five fights, three by knockout. His win during this period vs. Wanderlei Silva was awarded both Fight of the Night and later Fight of the Year honors for 2007. Chuck’s dramatic slide from dominance was attributed to a failing chin, a frenetic social life featuring Las Vegas romps with two fight groupies at a time, and his busy endorsement and entertainment schedule. Whilst fighting, Chuck guest-starred on television shows Entourage and Punk’d; he appeared in movies such as How High and Drillbit Taylor, and endorsed products for Reebok and Brisk Iced Tea.
In his last fight Chuck was KO’ed by Rich Franklin with only five seconds left in the round; a round in which Chuck had broken Rich Franklin’s arm with a middle kick. Had the fight gotten to Round 2, there is a good chance that the ringside doctor would not have allowed Franklin to continue. Chuck and Dana White announced the Iceman’s retirement after the Franklin fight, and also announced that Chuck would be entering phase 2 of his career with the UFC, as he transitioned to the position of Vice President of Business Development, finally utilizing the degree in Business/Accounting that he received from California Polytechnic 15 years before. He continues in that role to this day.
