
(Go ahead. Tell Chuck you forgot to order the ice cream cake for his birthday party. I’m sure he’ll understand.)
As Chuck Liddell prepares to try and prove to Dana White and the rest of the MMA world that he still belongs in the UFC, some recent comments seem to suggest that he maybe he has suffered serious head trauma after all. Regarding his goal to take back the UFC light heavyweight strap, Liddell told Fighters Only:
“I don’t plan on letting [Rashad Evans] stay champ for long. I thought I was winning that fight. I made a mistake, got caught and dropped. I was winning the fight up until then. People ask me about retiring after that fight. It wasn’t like I got my ass kicked and then got knocked out. I was winning the fight, got sloppy for a second and got caught. I made a mistake.”
[Sigh] I can’t help but feel like he’s using the old ‘got caught’ explanation as a crutch here. Yes, he got caught in the sense that he left himself wide open and was absolutely hammered by a right hand from Evans. But he wasn’t really winning the fight up until then. He wasn’t losing, either. The fight was fairly even with little significant action. And then he got knocked out.
He didn’t get caught any more than Wanderlei Silva got caught by “Rampage” Jackson or Andrei Arlovski got caught by Fedor.
I’d be willing to give Liddell the benefit of the doubt if we weren’t talking about a guy who is 1-3 in his last four fights with lone win coming via decision against Silva, who is 1-4 in his last five fights. Now Liddell is looking like he might be at the end of an illustrious career, fighting a “Shogun” Rua who is also nearing his last stop (if he can’t turn things around), just to see who gets to stick around a little while longer.
That doesn’t sound to me like a guy who is at all close to a title shot against Rashad Evans. He’ll have to win a few fights first, and the way the UFC’s light heavyweight division is, who knows who the champion will be by then.
Amazingly, Liddell seems completely unaware of any of this. To him, Evans is walking around on borrowed time wearing his belt. Maybe that’s the world you need to live in to be Chuck Liddell these days, even if it’s not a very realistic one.








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commentsYeah he may hve lost a few recently, but he'll get his groove back. He is my favorite fighter, and I am keeping the faith...
Good Luck Chuck......showin love in OHIO
Secondly, Chuck might be aging and slowing down, but I'd hardly call him washed up, and I think the biggest factors affecting him right now are his confidence, and faith in John Hackleman's training. I'd suggest that Hackleman is failing him, and can't help but wonder how much a difference there would be had Chuck had Greg Jackson training him instead.
I fully believe Chuck still possesses KO power in his fists, and his sprawl defence is still pretty solid. For a black belt in Kenpo, he throws far fewer kicks than I'd expect. His ground and pound is rarely utilized, and when old tricks stop working it's time to make some changes. I'm not saying Chuck will be champ again, but I believe he'd still perform well against the top 5'ers in the LHW division with better strategies and better coaching.
Rashad's eyes were closed.
Chuck decides when he retires and not a bunch of haters.
Chuck was a great. But the wear and tear on bangers like Liddell seems to really take its toll later in their careers - and those careers are lasting longer and longer now that the money has come up.
And WTF, so do you have be play the sport to have an opinion? So NFL fans just need to sit there with their hands on their knees saying "Well, that Ryan Leaf has earned my respect by just being on the field."? That's crap and you know it.
So STFU and go back to your knitting class!
Truth is he WAS winning the fight. Rashad is a cautious counter-striker and his gameplan (care of Greg Jackson) paid off; but until then Chuck was dominating the scorecards if not his opponent. He is simply using what there is to spin into some hype for the next event.
I know its CPs job to create talk over events but I hope they don't actually believe anything in this article. Chuck may well know exactly where he stands but who admits that they aren't champion material anymore when trying to hype a fight.
Also as for focusing on his repetition of the "I got caught" line. We all love Chuck for what he's done for the sport but let's face it he's not a rocket-scientist. If you ask a guy who's not the brightest tool in the shed (especially after all those KOs and fights) what he thinks of a fight don't expect a Randy Couture style rundown. Another possibility is that he's playing dumber than he is and he full well know's what his weakness was in that fight and has been working to fix it but wants shogun to be trying for it and expose himself in the fight.
Bottom line? Chuck Liddel says something giving the impression hes not the brightest? Another day at the UFC office.
the facts are straight and you all know them. chuck was king of the ufc in his division for a number of years.....Face it he is a BAD ASS... but just like the neighborhood bully and the tough SOB across the street .. there will always be someone faster better or just plain luckier than you at some given point in time... Chuck lost the last 3 out of 4 of his fights... end of story .. he would still rip off your arms and beat you to death with them in a brawl . including you me and everyone else that posts here, he is a tough mutherfucker end of story... we can all armchair the dogshit out of it with our gripes or opionions , but it dont make a pile of dogshit smell better... he will come back .. why you ask... he is dana's golden cow.. he brings business.. now whether he wins or not is up to chuck. can he do it ? i think so .. just look to couture to see how you can be at one point considered done with your career then come back and become champ and he is alot older than chuck. so if he can do it at 42 or 43 i think chuck can work hard and do it also... but it is all up to him....
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