When ESPN.com competes their “who’s now” series – pitting sports stars against each other in some sort of cultural relevance that apparently only appeals to the US Weekly mindset, Chuck Liddell figures to be somewhere in the bottom of the field of sixty-four against the likes of Peyton Manning (too many commercials), Tiger Woods (too many golf players) and Maria Sharapova (too many…well, she’s hot). If you were making a “who’s now” list of MMA fighters amongst those who know, unfortunately the Iceman would probably not fair much better.
After Chuck’s devastating loss to Quintin “Rampage” Jackson – where he lost his belt and most people would say his reputation as the toughest SOB around – it looks like he has been passed to the old guard of fighters, still respectable but not nearly as exciting as some of the up and comers.
This shouldn’t be entirely unexpected. From the moment the camera went back and forth between Jackson and Liddell it was easy to see that Ultimate Fighting had changed hands. Here was Chuck, stoic as ever, pasty-assed, with his gut hanging distended like some orphan from Ethiopia. Standing across from him was the single scariest man in fighting. Jackson looked mean. Just mean. When he came on camera I’ll admit, a little bit of pee came out. Rampage was jacked, focused and intimidating. Chuck looked like that guy who got thrown out of high school for tearing up the front grass in his 87 Mustang.
Still though, at the bar where I watched UFC 71, the audience seemed pretty evenly split in its loyalty, if not slightly in favor of Liddell. Then again, many of his supporters were chicks – girlfriends who profess to love the sport so their boyfriend will be happy – and we all know chicks don’t know shit about fighting. People who religiously know mixed martial arts, and more specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship, were divided amongst the old school – who worship the “legends”; Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, Randy Couture and those who see the emergence of the newer class; Rashad Evans, Anderson Silva, Quintin Jackson.
With the emergence of this newer class, one-sided fighters like Liddell are in a tentative position. The Iceman was known as the meanest, toughest badass around. He appeared on Punk’d and scared Johnnie Drama to snot on Entourage. Still, when you’re known as the toughest guy around and someone beats you, not beats you in a technical fight-sense, but straight up whoops your ass, what are you?
If you’re Chuck Liddell, who let’s face it has never been accused of being brilliant or even shrewd in his career like say a Tito Ortiz, you’re basically yesterday’s news. The fight against Wanderlei Silva would have given Liddell a chance to reclaim some of his cred, to possibly work his way back to a title shot, but Silva’s camp pulled out of that, leaving him to face a lesser opponent like possibly Keith Jardine (who himself was whooped by Houston Alexander).
If Liddell is able to run the table on his next new fights and steal some headlines, he could be back on top, promoting sports drinks and terrible tasting protein bars. If he loses again though? It could well spell the end of the Ice Age.
Chuck in his prime:
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
u know i will always think of liddell as one of the best light heavyweight champs to date. i just feel sorry for jardine who is way out classed i think. Hell i feel sorry for chuck cause they could have given him an A list fighter or a rematch but i cant wait to see rampage and henderson.
Agree
Chuck deserves a fight with shogun.
oh hell yea a fight with shogun would be great to see
tammy wynette or some one else sang stand by your man.
im standing by mine ,chuck liddel.
how fickle fight fans can be.
chuck got caught cold with a good shot.he didnt get beat up or outclassed.
anyone can get caught.ask randy,cro cop and gsp.
its true the iceman isnt getting any younger but he hasnt suddenley become an idiot.
rich franklin a legend.no.good fighter.yes
evans.new class.no.shy boy.yes.
jackson.scariest man.no.funniest.maybe.
sorry p-man but your off the line.
I agree Im sick of people getting on chuck cause he hasnt beaten everyone in pride, just let his performence against the dean of mean do the talking. I might sound crazy when I say this but iceman has a very good chance of beating rua cause he is gonna come at chuck and liddell likes to hit from weird angles, I would pick liddell but unfortunetley shogun proberbly wont fight chuck yet dana is gonna get him to win a few and grab peoples attention then give him the fight but either way I CANT WAIT FOR 76.
im a fan of rua and chuck.i think you make a good point about chuck finding the angles.also,when he finds them, he has knockout power.
this is the fight we wana see.
the jardine fight is a joke.
Yeah im sure chuck wants to fight shogun and vice versa but dana is protecting chuck when he doesnt need it, Jardine vs Machida and shogun vs chuck would make more sense but thats dana for you.
true.
dana has a few options.why jardine?
its a colossal blunder.
as a fan,i find the match an insult.regardless of the outcome.
Me too jardine is not in chucks league just like lyoto isnt in shoguns what was joe silva thinking.
In that video, I wish Liddell punched Hawk instead of that aussie nob Jason Ellis :)
PS. Chuck is a legend, he’s AWESOME! Everyone in Liverpool loves him.
The Jardine fight is a farce, I could knock him out with one of my super stonker farts just like Houston Alexander did.
Hahahaha yeah it would have been priceless, tony hawk would have cried like a girl.
Russ are you in the u.k me too.
when are we gonna see some more of bisping and is he still going to fight hamill?
Yeah hamills ass kicking is signed and sealed for 75.
thats funny. I see shogun might fight griffen that will be an ass kicking
Griffin wont want to fight again after shogun hands him his ass, but ufcmania have it shogun vs machida im confused.
UFCjunkie has rua vs griffin
We will have to see, if shogun ran through forrest what would it say about all the tuf guys, forrest is the top tuf guy I think.
forrest had his ass handed to him by a one punch ko by jardine and then forrest started to cry. So why not give shogun an A list fighter i would not order the fight its bullshit.
I agree shogun vs chuck and jardine vs machida, who cares who forrest fights, come om joe silva.
i so agree with you Pie Face.
Man can you type fast or what bro.
Come on dana iceman isnt getting any younger you need to give us some dream fights like chuck vs shogun,randy vs fedor,gomi vs b.j penn,mach vs gsp,hendo vs the spider and most of all ICEMAN VS ICE MURDERER!!!!!!
could you just imagine that card
Tickets would go in minutes.
Does Ross Pointon still fight in the UK or fight at all
Yeah he fights at 170 now mainly for cage rage, he won his last fight at CC 22 he was one of my favorites on tuf3, what about you B.J.
yea he was one of my favorites he would alwas say feel the pain lol!
Ross Pointon: Kendall (Grove) Im gonna knock you out with me breath lol.
oh yea lol! where u from pie face
Stoke-On-Trent, U.K what about you.
california my dad was born in birmingham England. i dont know if i spelled that wright.
Yeah youre right, who is your favorite fighter
my all time favorite fighter is Dan Severn
I like dan severn but my favorite is randy
“The Beast” beat forrest griffin and hes still kicking ass in his fifties.
yea if i havent been watching UFC from the dan severn days my favorite would be randy
He is gonna tko gonzaga!!!!! I hope
what! when did he fight griffen. i read on ufc junkie they had a list of fighters that need to retire and he was one of them.
About 5-6 years ago at like 48 severn went the distance and won read this http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=52
i truly think gonzaga got lucky with the kick to cro cops head but we will see when he fights randy i hope he doesent get caught with the same foot to the head.
That would make him easier to take down though so he shouldnt try it.
What are your predictions for 76 mine are shogun by tko whoever he is facing,iceman by ko,diego by tko and jason lambert to win a decision
true i hope randy wins by tko who is the top fighter in UK Bisping
Yeah I cant think of anybody else, unless you mean who is most popular.
i feel the same about ufc 76 has anybody given bisping a good fight in uk and who is the most pop
Not sure I havent seen many of his u.k fights, My favorite HW-randy LHW-Iceman MW-Hendo/Ace WW-diego/gsp LW-B.J, Chuck is one of the most well known but everybody is popular really just some more than others around here id say the top 5 most popular are chuck/randy/hughes/Ace/Tito.
Who is popular is california.
bisping and epstein had a decent fight at cage rage 9,for the lhw title.
ian freeman,paul daley,jess liaudin,mark weir and robbie oliver are a few of the popular fighters in the uk.
I know that he was on about all mma.
i would say hughs,titto,randy,liddell,nick and nate diaz just cause their local boys. oh yea and alot of my local buddys talk alot about fedor.
Same here bisping is popular here like the diaz bros are in C.A, BTW do you go on mmanews.com
not really i just stick to this and ufc junkie ive been watching mma for years but just started to look on line. i know diaz tested positive for THC thats why we havent seen him.
Yeah I heard “diablo” is on the next UFN, check it out (mmanews.com)
i just checked out mmanews.com i like it.
You can post I do my name is CaptainAmerica1993.
Sorry NATE DIAZ is fighting at UFN 11.
i seen u on mmanews wtf with bloodymesslol!
Yeah he is the idiot of the site there a few guys being idiots but everybody else is ok talk to me on mmanews.com
im waiting for activation i just sighned up
Cool I arent signed up my password keeps messing up.
Chuck will be back with a vengeance.
CHUCK IS GOING TO COME BACK WITH A VENGENCE I CANT SPELL LOL
Jardine needs a razor.
a buck knife to shave that chin lol
LOL He wont last long, my prediction Liddell KO in the 1st.
http://www.mmanews.com/ufc/Tito-Ortiz-Working-On-Autobiography-For-Simon–Schuster.html its an mma chat box late
lets get it on !!!!!
I know lol
I would just like to say you’re way wrong about chuck. People like you make me sick he’s been running through everyone in his weight class he loses one fight now he’s old and can’t fight. I bet you wouldn’t say that to his face. Also, Rampage will have his time too what is that gonna make him outdated too? When you stick by someone it’s through the bad and the good. Chuck will put away keith and get his title back. You can see it in his eyes.
Some people just don’t know what there saying
I never said that dont get mad, Ive been posting the exact same thing on mma sites!
pie ur right and ur wrong ur right about how mutha@#$%ers flip flop when their #1 pick gets beat down by my #1 pick i say that chuck is still one of the best light heavyweight fighters in the world and i feel he’s got the skill to beat almost anybody u put him up against(except rampage of course;) ) even though i’m not a big fan of chuck i got the up-most “RESPECT” because he’s no punk b&*^h however he won’t get the belt back from rampage and rampage won’t loose the belt for a very very very very very very very looooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg time and i do mean very:):):):):):):)
Im a huge fan of Chuck I can see him becoming LHW champ again IF he can beat alot of the top guys eg Wandy,Shogun,Houston Alexander (Not a top guy yet but would be a big test for “The Iceman”, And if he can do that then qrj vs liddell 3 would be possible.