Post-UFC 97 Press Conference: White Says Liddell is Finished Fighting, Fight Night Bonuses, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Apr 19, 2009 at 1:44 am ET43 Comments
Chuck Liddell
- UFC 97 drew an official attendance of 21,451 for a live gate of $4.9 million. If confirmed, the crowd would be the largest in North American MMA history.
- Sam Stout’s unanimous decision victory over Matt Wiman was “Fight of the Night”, Krzysztof Soszynski’s first-round kimura submission of Brian Stann was “Submission of the Night”, and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s first-round TKO of Chuck Liddell earned “Knockout of the Night”. Stout, Wiman, Soszynski, and Rua each earned $70,000 for their UFC 97 performances.
- If Georges St-Pierre defeats Thiago Alves in July he could fight Anderson Silva in Toronto.
- Chuck Liddell is done fighting, according to UFC president Dana White, who effectively announced the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s retirement and confirmed he’ll instead assume a new role with the company.
- White said he wasn’t sure if David Loiseau will get another opportunity in the UFC, but that he is a really nice guy and he’ll consult Joe Silva before making a decision on Loiseau’s future with the promotion.
- White also said that Cheick Kongo is a serious contender for the heavyweight belt and is in the mix for a future title shot.
- Sam Stout said he arrived at the arena at 5pm and basically did a six hour warmup after his fight was pushed back from the first fight of the event to the next-to-last bout.
Tags: Anderson Silva, Cheick Kongo, Chuck Liddell, Dana White, David Losieau, Georges St. Pierre, Krzysztof Soszynski, Matt Wiman, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Sam Stout
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Pretty stout live gate and bonuses. 70k is one of the biggest bonuses I remember, if not the biggest.
Interesting that Dana said Chuck was retired, but Chuck didn’t.
Sucks about Stout having to wait so long, why was the bout moved?
I think Chuck’s more or less in denial over no longer being a top-tier fighter who can compete in the UFC. I think it’d best for everyone if he just retires now and accepts a different role within the company. White was very clear the the presser that Liddell’s done.
Kevin Iole told me that because of Stout’s fanbase they wanted him on the main card and they ended up moving a lot of fights around.
That makes sense on both counts.
I definitely agree that it is best for everyone for Chuck to retire. The UFC can’t really cut him, but how do you keep a guy around that 1-4 in his last 5 three of those losses by KO while firing guys that lose close decisions and not look like you’re playing favorites? This way he stays with the organization, keeps getting paid, and doesn’t further tarnish his legacy, and the UFC doesn’t have to justify keeping him around.
70k CAN is 40K American…heh.
No, I don’t know…it’s about time they gave the fighters more money…cheap Zuffa.
Usually this stuff is in US dollars, even when they fight in the UK they get paid in dollars. I’m not even going to start on the “cheap Zuffa” BS.
70k Canadian is actually 57,800 USD
I feel that the whole martial arts world has caught up with Liddell. He is the same fighter, it is just that everyone is better then a couple of years ago. Most fighters are now faster, smarter, and more talented then a couple of years ago.
Dude’s an almost 40 yr old puncher. He doesn’t have the speed and power he used to. It’s not that most fighters now are faster, etc. he’s just gotten older and slowed down. The Chuck of 5 years ago wouldn’t have gone 1-4 in his last 5.
I would like to see kongo fight shane carwin. As far as scheduling fights it would work out pretty well. They could fight at ufc 101 and the winner would get either mir or lesnar.
I agree man..Carwin Vs Kongo for title Shot!…
would be a great fight and both fighters deserve that kind of shot
I like that, Kongo V.S. Shane Carwin would be a fair way to pick the next challenger for the heave weight belt.
The only other heavy weight title contenders left in the UFC would Cain Velasquez, and Junior Dos Santos.
they have have cain velasquez vs heath herring who brock beat for title shot.
they have nog vs couture.
that would be cool kongo vs carwin
i think the if cain and shawn both win they face each other because they were both “the next big thing” for title shot. might be to long wait for winner of mir/ lesnar though. so maybe winner of kongo vs carwin for title shot then if cain wins he faces winner of NOG/Couture for title shot.
TO all you LIDDELL HATER’s HE will Always be the Man. Don’t forget He is the Man who Made you all start watching the UFC. ICEMAN 4 LIFE!!!!
the reason i started watching UFC was becuase of my dad he left it on (UFC unleashed) and i started watching it then on on that epsiode is show matt hughes vs GSP their first fight. and matt hughes vs. Bj penn 2. that how i ended up having matt hughes as my favorite fighter!
No your wrong. Liddell is not the guy who made me watch the UFC. I’ve been a fan since the very first one. Royce Gracie is the man who made me watch the sport, not Chuck Liddell.
agreed
Also, agreed.
Anybody who boos Anderson’s performance tonight should be ashamed of themself. It is not his responsibility to cater to his opponents gameplan, nor is it his responsibility to please the mob. His striking has cemented a sort of legend about him that nobody is willing to get withing a takedown’s distance of him without yanking the emergency cord. And we blame Anderson for it??? So Thales drops and pulls guard for the 10th time of the fight and we think Anderson should just mindlessly do a big belly-flop onto him like Superfly Snuka just to please the masses. What a joke. People say he is the champ and it’s his duty to entertain the crowd and I think that’s such a shallow critique and most of the people saying that clearly should know better. His opponents run from him. They refuse to get close to him. This is not his fault and entertainment value shouldn’t be his M.O. Period.
On an unrelated note, I was surprised by all the talk from Dana, Joe, and Goldberg that this was Chuck’s “official” last fight in the UFC. The only way I buy that is if Chuck told Dana beforehand that if he lost, he is retiring. There is no way that this would be because of disciplinary reasons because, even to my chargin, Chuck is still a monster draw and the UFC will still gladly put him on future cards because he still brings in PPV buyers. So either Chuck himself told Dana beforehand that if he loses then he will retire, or else all this talk about him going away is clearly unfounded.
I think its noteworthy that amoung all the Chuck Liddell “retirement” talk that we still give good credit to Shogun. He needed a win and he got one in ginormous style. Kudos, Mauricio.
Again, if you boo’d Anderson, you just don’t get it.
NO!!!!
You don’t get it at all, and obviously neither does Anderson Silva. What a pathetic match on both of their parts. Are you kidding me? Lets get one thing straight right of the bat.
WE PAY TO SEE A FIGHT. I PAYED MY HARD EARNED MONEY TO WATCH THAT CRAP?
That was not a fight. Anderson Silva embarressed himself with his non-champion performance. He might as well left his belt in the ring last night.
There is never an excuse for fighting like a damn pu$$Y in the UFC.
You should maybe ask Bill Belichick, Larry Bird, Nolan Ryan, guys like that, if they really care what the fans think. Anderson cares about winning and defending his title. Point Blank. If you think his performances are decided on how entertaining he is, then you need to switch the channel and start watching the WWF.
The fight was definitely worth booing, maybe not booing Anderson, but the fight for sure. And if I paid the money to be in Montreal and watch that shameful main event and have **** Joe Rogan say about the booing bull**** I would have to say “go phuck yourself Joe”
Anderson Silva was boring as hell…Chuck should drop weight and beat his asz he is a over confident fighter and GSP will tear him up.
Dana White reminds me of the WWE, Uses people and when they can’t make them MONEY, YOU get rid of them. CHUCK LIDDELL has made YOU(Dana White) alot of money and when he can’t Draw them (people) in like what you expect, LET’S GET RID OF HIM. LIDDELL 4 LIFE
How does “confirmed he’ll instead assume a new role with the company,” equate to getting rid of him? That’s right it doesn’t.
So you expect Dana to let Chuck just keep losing? It’s got nothing to do (in this case) of Dana thinking Chuck can’t make him any more money, Chuck could probably still sell a lot of PPV’s just based on his name. That’s not the point however. His skills have deteriorated to the point where he’s not a top tier fighter anymore.
(No personal attacks. – Justin)
Rua’s back on the juice! Does there need to be an asterisk by this win? Just kidding. Shogun looked great, now everyone needs to pay attention to shogun. I wanna see shogun knee bar someone like he did Kevin randleman. How can they bring mma to Toronto before alberta? We have a huge mma fanbase here. And money to spend, unlike most other places.
they dont need to pay attention to rua just because he beat liddell he has been beat 3 of last 4 (2 were ko) before the fight now he got koed again and the same thing if he faces someone good on the feet at LHW. even though everyone who best liddell gets like an immediat title shot. rampage won it from him then he lost to jradine then won against wanderlei then got koed by rashad who got a title shot. now got koed by rua. now he has lost 4 0f last 5 (3 knockouts) time to retire or do somthing new in mma like HW?
anderson silva would beat GSP maybe finish it? but same thing with hendo they could beat anderson if he continues to not try to stop the fight but gsp and hendo both would take him down in the first round maybe silva would wake up and think hey this guy might beat and then finish them off in the second round.
Liddell vs. Ortiz, Strikeforce in August, maybe Chuck and Dana get into an argument about retirement and Chuck leaves. Probably not, but would be a big boost to Strikeforce.
liddel doesnt need to retire from fighting, he needs to retire his sorry excuse for a trainer… look at all the other fighters who get a new trainer and come back better than ever… chuck needs someone to push him to hold his hands up, teach him new ways of doing things… but alas can you teach an old dog new tricks…
Thales ” lay down ” leities should be ashamed of himself… A.Silva needs a real challenger…
Sam and krzystof both fought good fights good to see some of my fellow Canadians win…
Kongo deserves a title shot… i think the only reason he hasnt got one is due to the general dislike of french people in the usa, but he has proven himself to be a good fighter…
GSP vs Silva…. as much as we would all love to see this fight… i dont think they should… and if they do it shouldnt be for the title, if they wanna make it for the title then i feel that GSP should have to fight a couple people and win before going against silva… it was wrong that bj got a shot without fighting anyone else… i also dont think GSP would win, but its hard to say…
To anyone who is not over obsessed with believing Dana is “the man” trying to hold liddell down. MMAfighting.com had reported earlier in the week that Chuck would retire if he lost.This was according to Dana because as Dana said “He’s one of my best friends, I love him as a person, He’s accomplished everything there is to accomplish. What else is there for him? The most famous mixed martial artist in the world. Made more money than God, has a ton of money, and was a world champion. The bottom line is [that] I don’t want to see him get hurt.” yup I don’t know about you but that sounds like a guy who really wants to drop someone completely… also Chuck didn’t make Dana. Dana made Chuck (and Tito for that matter). Managers have a lot to do w/ getting a guy started and by the time Dana had to forfeit being Chuck’s manager, Chuck was already an emerging star. Give all the credit to chuck but don’t take any away from Dana. They helped each other more than anything.
Also Shogun did look good and he also looked like the old Shogun. Should be interesting to see where he goes from here. Does that put him in title contention…no BUT a rematch between him and Forrest would be fun as well as a host of other opponents.
And finally it was a bad main event but you cannot fault Anderson for it. He fought smart and unfortunately when a guy isn’t even pulling guard and flopping like a Duke basketball player there isn’t much to do. Fault the matchmaking and both fighters but don’t single out Anderson that’s just dumb. This may be the worst main event(in modern UFC) BUT Arlovski-Sylvia 3 is close to it.
LOL, “flopping like a Duke basketball player” that’s great.
I pretty much agree with what you said about Chuck and Dana.
Shogun did look pretty good, and there are several interesting match-ups for him, and I look forward to that.
Silva v. Leites: I definitely agree that you can’t place all the blame on Silva. Was I frustrated that he didn’t do more when they were on the feet, yeah I was. But I don’t blame him at all for not just falling into Leites’ guard, that would have been stupid. And certainly some blame needs to go to Leites for diving on the ground every time Silva did try to let loose some striking on him.
I think if Anderson and GSP fight, it should be at a catchweight purely for entertainment purposes only. I don’t like the idea of it being a title shot because whoever leaves his weight class will have little to lose. Also, I surely don’t want to see one of them with both belts where each title is being defended only half as often. I think too many complications pop up if it’s a title shot. However as a fan, it’s definately something that would be phenomenal to watch from an entertainment point of view so if it does get inked, I hope its at a catchweight solely as an exhibition fight. But wow, how does a guy pick a winner in that one?
From yahoo! sports:
““We had a two-hour meeting in Las Vegas,” White said about the agreement the two made shortly after Liddell’s loss to Rashad Evans on Sept. 6 in Atlanta. “I wanted him to retire, but he wanted one more shot. I made a series of guidelines. He had to train hard. He had to change up his training. He had to stay out of the night clubs. He did all that. He came here in great shape and went out like the stud that he is. If he had won a decision, this still would have been it. Anything less than an impressive win was going to be it. Yeah, we can still make money with him, but that’s not what it’s about here.””
I hate seeing people keep saying things like “silva faught an intelligent fight dont hate on him.. bla bla bla” sure, he did fight intelligently, but i dont think anyone would argue the standup game was a CLEAR advantage for silva, why not capitalize on that? sure he picked leites apart the majority of the fight but why not explode on him, and go for the KO, TKO? before his last fight noone in the ufc had even gone to the 3rd round with him, now hes going to a decision with thales leites? he could have defended his title in dramatic fashion and kept the fans happy. sure he won and kept the belt, and he may not care what the fans think, but im sure dana white and the UFC do, people arent going to keep paying to watch silva fight people like leites. bottom line is it was a stupid fight to have in the first place, let alone have a main event on a ppv. Silva needs to move weigh classes, and fight big name ufc fighters like GSP and others, who will provide an exciting fight, and an actual threat, because Silva-Leites was possible one of the most boring main events ive ever seen.
Silva sets everything up of smaller shots which progress into the Thai Clinch and then when people try to fight out of the clinch and expose themselves he finishes. Leites kept going down or trying to pull guard when Silva went for the Thai clinch. Leites wasn’t going to allow him to tee off on him. That’s why he kept going down. Leites isn’t exciting but he’s not dumb either. It was a bad match-up no doubt but it is MMA and these fights will happen occasionally. It’s up to the UFC to make sure to not have these as their main event fights.
Plus the problem I have w/ Silva moving weight classes all the time means guys that earn shots will not be able to get them. I am not a fan of a GSP-Anderson catch weight fight because what does it prove? Anderson is walking around at 215-220 already and GSP is around 180. That doesn’t work for me, Okami deserves a shot more than anyone in my opinion and I do not get why he’s not getting any love.
i agree with you on the fact that fights like this title match will occasionaly happen. But damn dude this was the worst title match in history dude wtf? i can’t believe how wrong i was thinkin leites would pull off an upset.
I hella want to see gsp vs silva in catch w or mw, i don’t care that fight would be sick but first my boy needs to get past thiago alves.
I won’t say i told you so to anyone, but for chuck lidell’s sake and for the sake of his awesome career, it’s about time he hangs up the gloves. He should be a commentator or start his own show or something. You know dana’s gonna hook him up since their boys. I’m happy shogun showd better skills and improvement and i can’t wait for shogun to fight top fighters.
I think shane carwin should fight jumior dos santos and the winnner of that should a get a title shot. I think kongo should get the winner of mir vs lesnar. Cain vs heath should also be in the imx for the hw title
I think Dos Santos is two fights away from a shot he needs to face someone like Velasquez or carwin and then Kongo. Then I’d be all for it.
I think it is worth stating, since it hasn’t been yet, Anderson Silva said that after his last fight, he would never let that boring crap happen again. He apologized to the fans and said he was terribly disappointed in his performance. He essentially did nothing to win the fight. He landed one little shot at a time and won a boring boxing match.
THE THING THAT MADE ME ANGRY was the way he was clowning in the 4th and 5th rounds. He was acting like he was dominating the fight and there was no domination anywhere in that fight.
CHUCK should retire when he is ready. I get tired of hearing people say that athletes “ruin their legacy” by sticking around too long. It simply isn’t true. In the end, we remember athletes by their best performances, not their worst. Some people would say, “look at Ken Shamrock”. I’ll say, “Ken Shamrock was never 1/10th of the fighter Chuck was”. Ken was a great powerful wrestler that admittedly took and abused steroids at a time when it was OK to do so by media and organizational standards. Chuck was a dominant striker that couldn’t be taken down, submitted, KO’d, and people were legitimately afraid of him the same way they are afraid of Anderson Silva now.
Just my two cents…
Silva vs Lietes was horrible, Anderson is a counter stiker, neither would commit to the fight. Anderson could have pursued his opponent and ended the fight 3 rounds early if he would have just worked at it. Although this is not the worst fight i remember, you all should go watch Ken Shamrock vs Dan Severn walk in a circle for an hour.
I think that if Chuck wants to continue to fight he needs to change camps
Sorry I have been gone for quite some time. Just had to comment. on this because it made me laugh so ****ing hard. So yah, sure a champ may have lack luster fights that are so boring they make you want to claw your own eyes out.
I’ll give you that.. sometimes championship fights can be trash because of the match-up, etc. One thing I have never seen is anyone in the p4p king mix have a fight that boring. It would never happen because everyone else who is in the p4p mix is ALWAYS looking to finish fights. Anderson proved he is not AND SAID IT HIMSELF. Just looking to win fights does not put you in the p4p heap.
So this means we can all stop throwing Anderson in with the real fighters in the p4p rankings. Kthnx.