There is still a place for Chuck Liddell in MMA.
Eight years after hanging up his gloves ‘for good’, Chuck Liddell has announced he is coming out of retirement. The former UFC light heavyweight champion made the announcement on Monday’s MMA Hour.
The 48-year-old eyeing up completing the trilogy against rival Tito Ortiz. ‘The Iceman’ is hoping to pen a deal with Oscar de la Hoya to promote the bout under Golden Boy’s supposed move into MMA. Liddell knocked out Ortiz in both of their blockbuster bouts in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
“I will fight again. If we can get a deal together with somebody and it made sense, yeah (unequivocally).”
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No Bones about it
Liddell is one of the most popular champions in UFC history. He played a pivotal role in the rise of MMA into mainstream status. Under orders from Dana White, he retired from the sport in 2010 following three successive knockout losses to Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, and Rich Franklin respectively. After retiring, he was given an executive role within the UFC, which he was released from in 2016 after the landmark sale of the promotion to WME-IMG.
“I miss it. I never stopped missing it. And I kinda hadn’t really thought about it much. And then when he brought it up and we started getting going, and I started training and I started doing stuff again, getting ready to try to take this on, it made me go, ‘You know what, what if he pulls out? Am I not going to fight? Am I going to do all of this and not fight?’ Oh no, we had to have somebody backing up, and if it doesn’t work out with him, I’m [still] going to give it a shot. It’ll be somebody else, one of the guys from my past probably, most likely, and we’ll see where I’m at.”
Aside from Ortiz, Lidell admitted he wouldn’t mind fighting Bellator star Chael Sonnen. He believes ‘the American Gangster’s ‘big mouth’ would sell the fight adequately. Rather worryingly, Liddell also let it known that the ultimate goal of his return was to secure a fight against Jon Jones, arguably the greatest fighter to ever grace an Octagon.
“To be honest, in my mind I’d like to fight two good warm up fights and I’d like a shot at Jon.”
Host Ariel Helwani may have thought he misheard the legend when he responded with,”Jon…” But Liddell was quick to clear up the confusion.
“Jones. I’m serious, I’d like a shot at him. But, we’ll see.”
When asked why on Earth he would want to fight Jones, Liddell simply responded with, ‘styles’.
