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« | Home | »

As many as four fights left for UFC legend Chuck Liddell?

By Zach Arnold | January 26, 2010

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I was reading this Las Vegas Review-Journal article on Chuck Liddell starting as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter yesterday and he’s talking about fighting at least a couple more times, if not four more fights in his mind.

Understandably, Liddell wants to continue fighting. He has money troubles (a recent lawsuit filed in court against a real estate mover-and-shaker) and he also still believes he can make things work out in the cage. Liddell told The Las Vegas Sun that nobody is going to force him into retirement — he will make his own decision when the time comes.

Also on the comeback trail is Mike Swick, who talked to USA Today in a recent interview about his upcoming fight against Paulo Thiago.

Misc. news and notes

The Newark Star-Ledger has a profile article on the American Martial Arts Fight Club in Whippany, New Jersey. It’s home base for Jim & Dan Miller of UFC fame.

A new update on whether or not UFC should be allowed in Toronto. The fact that the topic of UFC is becoming of media interest in regards to politicians on the ground is a good indication of things to come in the next few months. How UFC does in Vancouver this Summer seemingly will determine whether or not Ottawa and Ontario politicians are ready to regulate MMA. It’s only a matter of time, now.

Ron Frazier talks about Randy Couture and also the future of Xtreme Couture given the departure of Shawn Tompkins to the Tapout gym.

A big MMA show will take place on April 24th at the Target Center in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Here is video of a news clip in Boise featuring Jens Pulver at a local Boys & Girls Club talking to youngsters about bullying.

The M-1 vs. Affliction lawsuit is not going away any time soon.

The Arizona Republic has an interview with Ben Henderson.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

19 Responses to “As many as four fights left for UFC legend Chuck Liddell?”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Liddell needs to retire. End of story.

  2. mattio says:

    Government officials will only oppose something on moral grounds if it does not generate large revenues. Pathetic. I have no problems with MMA. It’s very brutal, but safeguards are in place and those with the highest possibility of getting seriously injured get weeded out pretty quickly. If I did have a problem with MMA, it generating buco bucks wouldn’t sway my opinion one bit.

    Unless Dana was working on a seminar about how not to convince your highest profile shot fighter it’s time to retire, his actions in the Liddell saga were deplorable. For someone who considers Liddell a close friend, he had no problem doing countless condescending interviews where he made Liddell out to be a fool who didn’t no what he was doing. It’s no wonder Liddell is now rebelling and demanding he continue to fight. Before Dana, has a sports commissioner ever taken it upon himself to retire a star player? Of course not. Geez.

  3. Ben! says:

    Queue a bunch of people going on and on about how dangerous it is for Liddell fight because he was knocked out once and lost via TKO a few times, which has never happened to anybody else in the history of the sport.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    I think many people wish Brett Favre would be pushed into retirement.

  5. The Gaijin says:

    Liddel’s chin is gone – when he wasn’t being fed, I mean, fighting 1-D grapplers this was his main striking defense.

    He’ll take out Ortiz, mainly because Ortiz is almost as finished as he is at this point. Ortiz’s terrible striking and pillow hands won’t be a worry for Chuck and his shot is soooo slow and telegraphed that he’s not going to take him down.

    After that I fully expect him to fight the winner of Randy/Coleman or someone that doesn’t pose a threat to further scramble his brain…heck, maybe they’ll even do a catch-weight fight with Kimbo if he keeps winning.

  6. Oh Yeah says:

    UFC 120: Ice vs. Slice

  7. Detective Roadblock says:

    I think we can all agree Chuck doesn’t have too much left but you can easily book 4 attention generating fights with him.

    1 Tito (I really don’t wan to see this one)

    2 Forrest

    3 Kimbo (if Kimbo beats Mittrione and Chuck beats Tito do Chuck Kimbo and Forrest Coleman over the summer. Winners fight in December).

    4 if Chuck goes 3-0 he obviously gets a title shot. If not you’ve Vera, Coleman, Couture, Anderson Silva or someone else at that point who needs Chuck’s name on his resume.

  8. Mark says:

    Those are all very safe fights for him, as Tito and Forrest have the punching power of the bed ridden elderly. Kimbo-Liddell could end up looking like Kimbo-Alexander. I can’t see either wanting to engage. The only interesting thing about that will be seeing who Dana blames for it.

    But if there’s a possibility of Machida fighting Coleman, Couture and Liddell maybe he should be nicknamed “The Senior Slayer”.

  9. The Gaijin says:

    I have no problem with Chuck continuing to fight so long as (a) they make sure they aren’t endangering his health, (b) they don’t treat it like he’s a title contender or making a run for the belt.

    He’s perfectly fine as a draw and an “attraction” fighter – but I don’t want his drawing ability or star power conflated with his actual skill/standing in the division.

  10. liger05 says:

    Pretty sad hearing another highly paid fighter has managed to get into money problems. That list never ends.

  11. Jason says:

    This is a another example of why the UFC needs to create a “Masters” division. There are alot of 2nd generation (Liddell, Ortiz, Hughes, Couture, Franklin, etc…) fighters who aren’t able to hang with these up and comming new kids that just have too much speed and power. Create a Masters division (or call it what you like) so these fighters who want to continue fighting, but can’t hang with the upper echlon of their respective divisions, can fight other fighters their own age and skill level.

  12. IceMuncher says:

    At least Liddell’s money problems come from getting scammed on a real estate investment he was making to ensure future wealth. Granted, he needs to be a little more rigorous when deciding who to trust, but it’s better than just blowing it all on frivolous crap like most professional athletes end up doing.

  13. IceMuncher says:

    I have no desire to see a “past-their-prime” league in any sport. Yeah, I feel bad when guys I like can no longer compete with the new young guns and get phased out, but that’s the way it is in every sport. The average career for an NFL player is 3.3 years, and the glory positions like running back and wide reciever are closer to 2.5 years.

    It’s the risk you run when your career choice is professional athlete. There’s an empahasis on choice, they didn’t have to become athletes. In the short term, they get the fame and glory, and possibly very high pay. In the long-term, well, it would have been better to go to med school.

  14. szappan says:

    Why don’t we ask Dr. Lesnar what his diagnosis of Liddell is?

  15. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Chuck vs Rich Franklin is a fight you have to imagine will get booked at some point of Chuck’s comeback.

  16. wildgoat says:

    Jason, this is fighting not golf, a Masters league would have litle to no appeal.

  17. Zack says:

    “Why don’t we ask Dr. Lesnar what his diagnosis of Liddell is?”

    LOL!!!

  18. Isaiah says:

    Mattio,
    Dana’s not a sports commissioner or anything like that. He’s more like a GM from a franchise or a boxing promoter.

    I remember the Astros doing everything they could to make Jeff Bagwell retire or be declared unable to play by a doctor, while he was resisting. But that was to avoid having to pay him or to collect insurance rather than for his own good. I’d guess that boxing promoters have pushed their guys to retire before. I know it’s happened on a low level (“you’re not cut out for this, son”), and I seem to recall it happening on a higher level, but I can’t think of the names. Did Newman push Bowe to retire?

  19. The Gaijin says:

    @Isaiah:

    Most recently Jermain Taylor’s promoter Lou Dibella publicly “dropped” Taylor – stating that he thinks he needs to retire due to health reasons and could no longer support him fighting.

    So there’s some recent, high level (if rare) evidence of promoters trying to protect fighters from themselves.

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