Chuck Liddell

Chuck-Liddell-pic

Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell – MMA Profile

Nicknamed “The Iceman,” Chuck Liddell is an American Mixed Martial Artist and is adored by MMA fans. Chuck is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who has an strong background in kickboxing, karate, and wrestling. He blends several fighting styles including wrestling, Koei-Kan karate, kickboxing, and Kempo karate, and is well known in the MMA community for his dangerous striking ability and takedown defense. He is considered a stand up fighter who relies on his karate, and kickboxing backgrounds and uses his striking ability as his primary method of attack. This is made very evident with his record, in which 14 of his 21 victories have been by knockout, earning Liddell a reputation for being a merciless striker. He is tied with another UFC great Matt Hughes for the most victories in the UFC with 16 wins, and holds the record in the UFC for most KO/TKO wins with 10. Many fans and MMA veterans credit him for helping to push the sport of MMA into mainstream consciousness.

Chuck Liddell and Retirement

UFC President Dana White announced at the UFC 93 post fight press conference that Liddell’s next match would be against rising Brazilian star Mauricio “shogun” Rua, and the bout would take place at UFC 97 in April of 2009 in Montreal, Canada. At UFC 97, Liddell was defeated by Mauricio Rua by TKO with only 30 seconds remaining in the first round. The loss marked the fourth loss for Liddell in his last five fights, marking a low point in his career. After the loss, Dana White told reporters that Liddell is now retired. White was quoted saying: “I care about him. I care about his health, and it’s over, man. It’s over.” He went on to say that, “You’re never going to see Chuck Liddell on the canvas again.”

Chuck Liddell entered retirement from the UFC and on July 10, 2009 Liddell was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as the fifth inductee ever to be honored with such an accomplishment.

During his tenure in the UFC, Liddell has fought and defeated a number of prominent MMA fighters including Randy Couture, Kevin Randleman, and Tito Ortiz. For a brief time, he and Ortiz were friends and companions. But, tensions mounted and they eventually became bitter opponents. Meanwhile, an intense rivalry had developed between Couture and Liddell and drew fans attention. Their fights at UFC 52 and UFC 57 were 2 of the most anticipated bouts in UFC history. In the end, Liddell successfully defeated Couture.

The bitterness between he and Ortiz continued to fester. But, a rematch in UFC 66 left Ortiz defeated once again, further fueling his ire toward Liddell. The last few fights have not been easy for Liddell as a monumental knockout was mercilessly delivered by Rashad Evans at UFC 88.

Chuck Liddell continues to be an MMA fan favorite. His fighting prowess, tenure in the UFC, and dedication to the sport have effectively made him an icon. What’s more, his appearances in music videos, TV shows, televised interviews, and movies keeps him in the public consciousness. While Liddell has suffered a series of losses in the Octagon, fans continue to gravitate toward him as a UFC superstar.

Chuck Liddell V. Quinton Jackson Rematch

Liddell was set up to fight Rampage Jackson in a rematch at UFC 71 which would mark Liddell’s fifth light heavyweight title defense. On May 26, 2007 Liddell faced Rampage and lost his UFC Light Heavyweight title just two minutes into the fight after Chuck was knocked to the ground by a right hook from Rampage. Rampage followed Chuck to the ground where Chuck was unable to defend himself from the barrage of punches that Rampage rained down on him, forcing the referee to stop the fight, and reward Rampage with a first round TKO from punches and his first Light Heavyweight championship title. After the fight, Liddell was criticized by the media for being seen out at night clubs the week before his title defense against Rampage. Chuck responded to the media that it was nothing different than what he normally did before a fight he had in Las Vegas.

Liddell told the media at a post UFC 71 press conference that he planned to continue fighting and Dana White confirmed this, telling reporters that his next fight would likely be against Pride phenom Wanderlei Silva. Roughly a month later, Dana White reported in an interview that the rumored bout between Chuck and Wanderlei had been permanently canceled and that Liddell would instead be fighting Keith Jardine in the main event at UFC 76.

In their main event bout at UFC 76, Liddell suffered his first consecutive loss of his career when he lost a split decision to Keith Jardine. Dana White told reporters in a post fight interview that Liddell did not look like the Chuck Liddell that loves to fight.

In October of 2007, UFC President Dana White announced that the Chuck Liddell Vs. Wanderlei Silva fight that MMA fans everywhere were waiting for would finally happen. The fight was scheduled for UFC 79 and it was a back and forth battle between two of the best fighters ever to enter the cage, and the fight more than lived up to the hype. Liddell beat Wanderlei Silva in a unanimous decision from the judges in what many fans of MMA called the best fight of the year. The bout won fight of the night honors and was later voted as the best fight of the year in 2007 at the first annual MMA awards.

Liddell’s next fight would be against a talented, young wrestler named Rashad Evans that was undefeated at the time and would prove to be quite the test for Chuck. The fight was scheduled for the main event at the UFC 88 event that took place on September 6, 2008. At roughly the two minute mark of the second round, Chuck was caught by a Rashad Evans overhand right punch that sent the former champion to the mat rendering him unconcious. The knockout was called the knockout of the year by the popular MMA website Sherdog, and the knockout received the knockout of the night award at UFC 88.

Purchase Chuck Liddell Gear Now With MMA Warehouse

<
Sinister Brand Chuck Liddell 97 Ice Age Elite T-Shirt – $ 29.99

From: MMAWarehouse.com

UFC Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell Fighter T-Shirt – $ 24.99

From: MMAWarehouse.com

Chuck Liddell’s UFC Championship

Following the conclusion of the Ultimate Fighter season 1, the two coaches were scheduled to fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with Chuck Liddell challenging Randy Couture for his UFC title belt. On April 16, 2005 the two met in the octagon again for the UFC Light Heavyweight belt at UFC 52. This fight would have a much different outcome from their first match, asa Chuck Liddell ended the fight in the first round with a knock out victory over Couture, making Chuck the UFC light heavyweight champion for the first time.

Shortly after winning the belt, Liddell was scheduled to fight Jeremy Horn at UFC 54 in a highly anticipated rematch between the two after Horn handed Liddell his first loss of his career. The fight proved to be  much different then their first bout, as Liddell dominated Horn with aggressive punches, knocking Horn down in a number of rounds. Liddell’s amazing wrestling defense and sprawl game nuetralized almost all of Horn’s offense which relied heavily on grappling and wrestling. Liddell finally caught Horn enough to knock him down and finish him with a furry of strikes, giving the Iceman a TKO victory three minutes into the fourth round after Horn told the referee that he could not see. Upon winning the UFC Light Heavyweight title and defending it against Horn, Liddell successfully avenged two of his three previous losses.

At UFC 57, Liddell was set up to face Randy Couture in a rubber match between the two champions. Liddell successfully defended his title for a third time as he defeated Couture for the second time in a row with a KO victory due to punches in the second round. Randy Couture announced his retirement from MMA and the UFC following the loss to Liddell. Liddell’s next title defense came at UFC 62 on August 26, 2006 where he faced Brazilian Renato “Babalu” Sobral, who Liddell had beaten three years prior to their rematch. The result would be much the same as the first, as Liddell quickly defeated Sobral by TKO due to strikes only a minute and a half into the first round.

MMA fans everywhere were about to get what they have been waiting to see since UFC 47, a rematch between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz was scheduled for UFC 66. This event became the most financially successful events in the history of the UFC which took place in December of 2006. During the fight, Ortiz was forced to stand up and trade blows with the dangerous striker because Liddell’s take down defense stopped any opportunity Tito had to bring the fight to the ground, where Tito is strongest. Liddell chipped away at Ortiz until he finally caught Ortiz with his strikes and won the fight by TKO in the third round. It marked the fourth time that Liddell had successfully defended his light heavyweight title. After the fight, it was braught to the media’s attention that Liddell had torn his MCL before the fight and in addition to this, it was revealed that Liddell had popped the tendon out with his left hand during the fight.

Coach Liddell and the Ultimate Fighter

Chuck Liddell accepted the offer to be a head coach for the first ever season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite of then Light Heavyweight champion of the UFC Randy Couture. The season started in early 2005 and was aired live on Spike TV with Chuck Liddell cornering Team Liddell and Randy Couture as the head coach of Team Couture. The series proved to be a great success not only for Spike TV but for the UFC as well. The season winners were Diego Sanchez and Forrest Griffin who were both members of Chuck Liddell’s team and have gone on to have very successful MMA careers.


Iceman and the UFC

In 1998 at UFC 17, Chuck Liddell made his first appearance in the octagon in a fight against Noe Hernandez, where he won a unanimous decision. Despite losing his next UFC fight to top contender Jeremy Horn by submission, Chuck began to establish himself as a deadly striker with a run of 10 consecutive victories, and 7 quality UFC wins over veterans Kevin Randleman, Murilo Bustamante, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral, and Jeff Monson. By 2002, his win streak established Chuck Liddell as the number one contender for the UFC Light Heavyweight championship title.

The UFC and Dana White attempted to schedule a light heavyweight title bout between the light heavyweight champion of the time Tito Ortiz and new challenger Chuck Liddell, but Tito Ortiz delayed the fight citing scheduling conflicts. In an attempt to force a fight on Tito, the UFC created an interim light heavyweight championship and put Liddell up against UFC great Randy Couture at UFC 43 for the light heavyweight interim title match. During the fight, Liddell came out swinging and striking like normal but had a very hard time doing any damage to Couture, and couture prevented Liddell’s hooks from landing with straight punches and take downs. Couture began to take Chuck to the mat at will, where Couture eventually passed Liddell’s guard, mounted him, and began raining down punches until the referee was forced to stop the fight. Couture won by way of TKO half way through the third round.

Shortly after his loss to Couture, Chuck joined the Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament as a representative of the UFC. Liddell fought against Allistar Overeem in the first round of the tournament and beat him a devastating KO punch that brought an end to the fight just three minutes into the opening round. Chuck Liddell next faced Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the semifinal round of the tournament and was eliminated from the tournament via TKO due to corner stoppage.

Following the conclusion of the Pride middleweight tournament, Liddell returned to the UFC where he was once again put in contention for the light heavyweight title belt and was scheduled to face the former champion Tito Ortiz. Ortiz and Liddell has once trained together at a training center called the Pitfight Club but split up from each other as Ortiz and Liddell began to feud. Their friendship deteriorated after Ortiz wouldn’t accept a title fight with Liddell, even though Liddell was the number on contender in the UFC for the belt. Ortiz lost his title belt to Randy Couture, which opened the doors for a fight between Ortiz and Liddell and the two would square off at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004. The first round of their fight was very uneventful, as both fighters spent a majority of the round feeling each other out. Liddell threw a small combination of punches and a head kick that was easily blocked by Ortiz, as he slapped his head in a taunt at Liddell. The first round ended with the two fighters shoving eachother through the referee and exchanging a few words before retreating to their respective corners. Shortly into round 2, Liddell opened up and threw a barrage of punches that knocked Ortiz to the mat and led to a TKO victory due to strikes for Chuck Liddell. After the fight, Ortiz argued that Liddell’s thumb poked him in the eye, causing him to go blind momentarily and lose the fight. Since their fight, the bad blood between them still remained and Ortiz repeatedly said that he wanted “his” belt back from Liddell. Despite the bad blood, the two fighters wouldn’t meet again in the ocotagon  for over two years.


Sinister Chuck Liddell Iceman Pullover Hoodie – $ 47.99

From: MMAWarehouse.com

Chuck Liddell Childhood

Liddell took an early interest in the art of hand-to-hand combat. At 12, he began learning Koei-Kan karate, which he has tattooed on his scalp. During high school, he quickly gained attention as a formidable football player and wrestler, serving as captain on both teams and starting all 4 years for both sports. He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, earning degrees in business and accounting while performing as a Division 1 wrestler. In 1993, at the age of 23, Liddell watched his first UFC fight and the wheels began to turn. 5 years later, he found himself in the Octagon, defeating Noe Hernandez and officially launching his MMA career. When Chuck began his MMA career, he started to train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with coach John Lewis in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Personal life of Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell has one brother named Sean Liddell who also competes in MMA, but not quite on the level that Chuck was once on. Chuck once had relations with pop artist, model, and playboy model Willa Ford. He was engaged to long time girlfriend Erin Wilson but the two have since gone their seperate ways. Chuck Liddell has two children, Trista who is 10, and a nine year old son named Cade.

Liddell co-owns the fight team called the Pit Team and has recently earned his purple belt in jiu-jitsu. He is also a co-owner of two bars in Lincoln, Nebraska; one is called the NZone and the other is Dillinger’s. He also is a co-owner of a MMA social networking website called MMA Jacked.
Aside from MMA, Chuck has been involved in many different print, film, and television appearances. Liddell became the first UFC fighter to ever be on the cover of ESPN the magazine in a May 2009 edition of ESPN the magazine. He has also written and released an autobiography called ‘Iceman: My Fighting Life’ on January 29, 2008.

Liddell hasa made a number of film and TV appearances. He appeared in movies such as the Bachelor Party Vegas, a Jet Li movie called Cradle to the Grave, and a Jack Nicholson movie called the Postman Always Rings Twice. He has appeared in TV series such as Inked on A&E, the TV series Blade: the Series, and most notably, he appeared as himself on an episode of Entourage called ‘Gotcha’.

Purchase Chuck Liddell Now With Ebay

[phpbay]Chuck “Iceman” Liddell, 12, “”, “”[/phpbay]

Leave a Comment





Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.