Chuck Liddell Breaks Silence on Possible Retirement
Since his first-round TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 97 in mid-April a debate has raged over whether Chuck Liddell would, or should, return to the octagon for at least one more bout.
UFC President Dana White has insisted, both immediately after the bout and in the month that has followed, that the 39-year-old former light heavyweight champion had fought for the last time. Meanwhile, Liddell’s trainer, John Hackleman, has gone on the record that “The Iceman” would fight at least one more time.
Liddell has finally broken his silence on the issue, discussing a potential retirement from fighting in an interview with MMA Madness. Though no definitive answer was offered, it provides a glimpse into Liddell’s mindset before he makes a decision on ending his career following losses in four of his last five bouts.
Here’s a snip from Liddell:
“I’m going to take some time off and figure out what I want to do, and see what else I think I can do. I’ll still be training guys and I’ll still be working out and training. I’m too emotional to make a rational decision. I want to wait and take my time. I’m not going to make that decision until I sit down and look at it after a little while.
“I need some time off anyway, and when everyone stops worrying about it, I’ll make my decision on my own. Right now, I couldn’t say that I’m not going to fight again.
“All I’ve been doing my whole life is training to compete. It’s a hard thing to give up for an athlete. It’s hard to stop competing after so many years. I’ll listen to [White] as a friend, but he’s not going to make me do anything. The last thing you want to do if you want me to do something is to tell me I have to do it.”
Tags: Chuck Liddell, Dana White, John Hackleman
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id love to see the iceman at least one more time…..
Sounds like he’s thinking straight. It’s not good go on emotion and make serious decisions when you aren’t in a calm state. Emotions don’t last forever, but some decisions have lasting repercussions and if you make them when in an emotional state, chances are you’ll make the wrong choice and regret your decision. Enough psycho babel though.
Chuck’s fights since he beat tito
Rampage- tko loss
jardine- decision loss
wanderlei-decision win
“sugar”-ktfo loss
shogun- tko loss
damn dude, need i say more?
Hang em up @ UFC 100 Chuck, it’s meant to be!
i realy just dont see why he needs to keep fighting. like i guess you could throw him some cans to beat, but thats not what chuck wants and it wont happen, and after losing so many fights its hard to justify giving him a top level oponent. we all want to remember chuck as the the guy who knocked people out and who was one of the greatest of all time not as another shamrock. Him being inducted into the hall of fame at UFC 100 hundred and retireing would be perfect.
I think that if Chuck wants to fight again, then Dana should just let him honor his contract (seeing as there is only one fight left on it). After that if Dana doesn’t want to risk Chuck “getting hurt” then don’t sign him to another contract. Chuck Liddell is a 39 year old man, who is more than capable of making his own decision in this. I agree with what Rampage Jackson had to say about the Chuck Liddell retirement talk, in that if he comes back don’t put him in with a killer. Make him work his way up again. I mean after Chuck lost to Rampage in 2003 he came back beat Tito and then Vernon White whose record at the time was 20-26-2!? They could have put him in with a killer and risked it, but they didn’t. I don’t see a problem with Chuck fighting up and comers like; Matt Hamill or Brandon Vera or a rematch against Keith Jardine (who I think he could beat).. Or a couple Legend vs. Legend fights like another match with Wanderlei Silva or even fights with Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson. Point is, if Chuck still wants to fight let him. Just let him fight the up and comers or the older Legends like him. Get a streak of wins together that look impressive and let him close out his career win lose or draw in one more title fight. Given that he beats those fighters decisively. He’s one of the greatest UFC Light Heavyweights of all time and he deserves to try and climb the mountain again. Just let him start from the bottom, stop putting him in at the top every time.
It’s actually Chuck’s request to fight the top guys, he knows at 39 he doesn’t have that long to climb the mountain so he tries to go against the best knowing that’s the quickest(albeit not the best) way to get back in the picture.
Yeah but he needs to realize that, that decision to fight the best isn’t the smartest if he wants to continue to fight. He should take the smart road and beat a Henderson or a Franklin, which I think he could and then that would repel him into being able to fight top flight fighters again. But to come back after a TKO loss and fight a guy like Rampage or Rua again isn’t too smart. If he wants to stick around he needs to start to pick and choose who he fights. There’s no shame in going out and fighting and getting your ass kicked, but you cant take it too many times.
hey Chuck your the reason why i started loving MMa srew Dana and his Ideas all he cares about is making money i know that he is the Man when it come to UFC but no one should tell you when your ready to quit but i think that maybe all those losses were fights that were to close together maybe you needed to regroup and then take that bigg fight anyway i felt so bad for you in that last fight but your just going throught a bad patch ,so wen your ready physycaly and mentaly COME back maybe Dana white should remember that without Guys with enormous heart like you there would not be any UFC if you deside to come back ill be cheering you on and i wont be the only one wether you make one final come back or more you true fans will be here Love you chuck and dont be down your the champ and no matter what many of the new fighters today have learnt from fighters like you i hope you come back and show tghe nonbeleivrs yours truly Carol Vezina nwe fan of the ufc thanks chuck i love watching you lots of heart takecare
Chuck Liddell is doing the most logical thing for now which is just wait till the dust sttles and then make a better decision. If he waits a while he’ll be able to really look at his whole life and decide what’s best for him, and it’s nice to hear that HE, not Dana White will make the final decision regarding his future.
chuck was given a “lay-up” with jardine, and it backfired and the same was thought with rashad and with shogun. 3 “lay-ups” and none happened. I hope chuck does retire and take the offer dana gave him or start his own gym, or be a co head trainer with hackleman. I would not like to see chuck lose his legacy with another ko loss. 205 is too deep for chuck to get a beatable opponent. its time for him to ride off into the sunset.
Look Randy has lost more then CHuck but no one is yelling give up RANDY. why do we say Chuck needs to give it up? I dont get it… I just think chuck needs a new camp and to learn to keep his damn hands up when he throws a punch.. but hey im a no body… Maybe Jackson’s camp or ATT in Florida would be good for him
I’ve thought Randy should’ve gone away awhile ago but there’s a big difference between Randy and Chuck in that regard. The difference being that A)Chuck is a stand and trade guy and takes more punishment that way and B) in less than two years Chuck has been (not just TKO’s) knocked out 3 times and that’s not including the fight with Wanderlei where he also took a great deal of punishment. Couture has lost more than Chuck yes but he hasn’t been brutally beaten in 3 of his last 5 (once again that’s in under two years and not including Wandi since he won).
Liddell was doing some training with ATT before he fought Shogun. That was part of his deal with Dana when Dana reluctantly gave him his last fight. Old habits are hard to break and he would essentially have to relearn everything in order to correct those issues. Also since his issues are related to his stance and hand positioning it would require some change from him and at 39 time is working against him. Reaction time naturally declines at his age so like I said time would be against him.
Question for everyone . . . . . Lets take a few steps back imagine the Shogun and Chuck fight ended in a tidy T(KO) but in favour of Liddell ok . . . . . Would there be this whole should he or shouldnt he retire dispute or would there be another ‘give Chuck another title shot’ campaign?
So True.. SO true…
IF chuck won, it would still make no sense to talk about him and the lhw title and there shouldn’t be ANY campaign for him and the title imo. IF he won, since he “the iceman” they would have given him a “top” lhw and then IF he won, THEN he would have likely received another title shot. But that’s a huge MAYBE.
BUT!!! We’re not in “imagination land” dude, and chuck HELLA didn’t win therefor, the retirement talk, should continue because @ this point in chuck’s career, nothing makes more sense. I’ve been saying chuck was done since he lost to Jardine.
Hey i feel for you chuck fans but ask yourself this question. If now isn’t the time for him to retire, then when the hell in your opinion, should he retire? After he gets knfo again?
I just think that before this fight the majority of people were expecting to see Chuck back to winning ways and then going onto rematch Jardine which is what he wants/wanted, now ive never been the biggest Liddell fan and theres numerous guys id rather watch fight ahead of him but it just seems to be from one extreme to another because if he had of beaten Shogun both Dana and a lot of fans’ tongues would have been all over Chucks ass but since he ended up being KO’d again Dana and other people are trying to retire for him
There would be no doubt (I wouldn’t be a part of it) however I don’t think he’d win. He’d still would have lost 3 of his last 5 instead of 4 of his last 5.
I know exactly what you mean bro but in mma when you win your on top of the world and when you lose its time to call it quits. just imagine if wandy would have knocked out rampage, it would have been pandamonium, with talk of title shots, but he loses and its “hes done” and “send him to 185″ Its actually quite sad that in the U.S. fighters are only as good as their last fight.
GSP loses to serra = wheres his head at? can he handle the pressure?
anderson doesnt destroy someone = hes overated, boring, unworthy of main event status
bj has one bad showing against a top p4p fighter = ….well we all know what came of that
machida finishes someone = hes everyones favorite fighter
the list goes on and on but we are all guilty of it in someway or
another. espeacially those punk ass casual fans.
My sentiments exactly guys and on a finishing note I think Dana White has acted very disrespectful towards Chuck in the whole episode
Every sport is like that in some way though. Vanderjact shanks a kick and that means Peyton Manning can’t win the big one. Bill Buckner makes an error in the world series and everyone forgets he was an All-Star and a career .289 hitter. In college football you can lose one game and all of a sudden you’re irrelevant again. It’s not just MMA. It’s all sports and that plays into another topic (marketing/advertisement) that could end up being a long message board thread. Winning is the key (granted in MMA performance is also a key part but as long as you win w/ a belt you have a job but if you lose…bye bye) in all sports. Who remembers every minute of every fight that a favorite fighter of theirs has fought? You mostly remember the KO’s (for or against) and unless something spectacular happens you don’t remember all of the decisions(unless it was fresh). Every guy you listed I’ve seen what you are saying but that’s sports in general.
The truth is Chuck is 39 lost 4 out of 5 and taken a pounding in 4 out of the 5 as well. First rule of the referee is to protect the fighter, so why can that not promoters motivation? Especially when they go back as far as Chuck and Dana. Dana didn’t want to give him that last fight because he thought Chuck needed to retire and he gave him that fight because Chuck begged him for one more chance. Chuck lost and lost badly even after cutting out all of the partying, training with another camp, and all the other changes he made. Do I think Dana should’ve made the announcement and not Chuck himself? No I don’t but it is the right decision that needs to be made by Chuck. He’ll just turn into another Brett Farve where all you end up hoping is that he does hang it up for good because you’re tired of seeing the will he/won’t he deal.
Yes but Liddell didn’t win via TKO for a reason. He’s lost a step and that’s why he needs to retire.
im tired of all these people saying “hang em up chuck!” “your done!” “he needs to retire!” etc…
look at the fighters he lost to….
> Rampage (went on to be lhw champ and is a top contender currently)
> Jardine (a great fighter regardless of what all of you say, CAN BE very good at times)
> Wanderlei (one of the best fighters in the last 15 years)
> Rashad (current lhw champ)
> Shogun (the guy who lots of ppl used to say was the best 205lb fighter in the world…)
hmmmmm i notice a pattern here…he has fought nothing but amazing fighters, top competition, some p4p bests, and lost 4 times. not to mention him being 39.
in my opinion….he SHOULD NOT retire. Most great fighters lose a big fight, and then get in there with a young, medium tier fighter. thats what he needs to do, instead of fighting the top competition over and over. go fight a decent fighter, knock him out, then try ONCE MORE at fighting a contender or a champ. Like someone already commented….you rarely see people saying Randy Couture should retire…and that guy is over 5 years older than Chuck… so…
oh and just for the record, im not even a liddell fan, im more of a Tito Ortiz fan and Randy Couture fan than i am a Chuck Liddell fan…
TW@
Dude,for the record, i’ve been saying chuck lidell was finished since he lost to jardine.
Jenkiness,
Just cuz chuck is getting his ass knfo by “the best” the lhw division has to offer, doesn’t mean that he’s not still, getting hisass kicked. It really doesn’t matter who he’s losing to at this point it only matters that he’s losing, and by ko and tko.
Um… Randy is still winning…
Randy has only fought 3x since being KO’d by chuck, if he’d fought the same amount we’d probably be having the same discussion about Randy.
Chuck Liddell had a great carrer, knocked a lot of top 205′ers out, became extremely famous and respected. It’s time to give it up dude!
Honestly, i can understand his desire to keep fighting because it’s what he does. But what else is their to fight for? I know before the Shogun fight Chuck Liddell was saying ” I want my belt bakc! I’m…I’m still coming” He’s not even close to contending for the title anymore.
Dude just retire already and save yourself the embarrasment of either getting knocked out again or losing to a nobody who you will most likely fight should you chose to fight one more time, OR make yourself look even worse BY knocking out or defeating A NOBODY.
it’s time to give it up and let the new generation do their thing Liddell. Take some time to think about it and then REALIZE that the best thing for you is to go out with some DIGNITY.
how could he look worse by knocking out a nobody?? last time i checked….anytime you knock someone out…it doesnt make you look bad. hahaha
if he knocked out a nobody, at least then he could go out with real DIGNITY. instead of retiring after a tko loss..
If Liddell knocked out a NOBODY he would look like a pathetic old guy getting an easy ko JUST to end his career on a WIN. Knocking out a nobody would look bad for him because come on he’s the great LIDDELL man.
Whether his fans like myself like it or not, It’s time to retire.
Just like you i would love to see him fight agisn and would by the Payperview, but i’d rather him retire than become like Shamrock and all those losers.
Jenkinsss, give me your reasons why you feel Chuck Liddell should still fight because i don’t see any strong argument for him to continue getting knocked out.
All this make believe is great and all but if you wanna kept saying if Chuck KO some nobody or If he woulda beat Shogun..
The problem with play play is that it is just that.
Why should Chuck fight a nobody only to POSSISBLY get KO by a nobody who now is a somebody cause they KO’d the great Chuck Liddel???
You see the If and But work in reverse as well.
The reason there’s no “Randy retirement” talk is because he came back and destroyed 2 heavyweights took the title and defended it , then wanted to challenge the “Great” Fedor!! And lost 1 fight to that beheamoth Brock Lesnar.
Chuck could fight at HW for his next fight
there is alot of good match up there.
so he does not have to cut so much weight.
1 more fight at HW or LHW
DUDE
He cant take a punch from a LIGHT Heavy weight 205er, What in the world makes you think he can take a punch or punches from a HW 265er!!!???
Stop the madness please..
He as Jazzok pointed out has lost-lost-won-lost-lost 4 outta 5 of his last fights. And in 3 of his fights was Knocked Silly or put to sleep. Think about it, it was Tko’d 1st round Rampage, KO 2nd Evans, Tko 1st round Shogun… Who in their right mind wanna see that man seriously hurt……….. Man Stop.
You know once upon a time randy got knocked out by a 205er…and ya know, went on to hold a HW title…just saying
Dude Stop it…Just Stop it..
Rob
Did Randy get KO’d 3 times or lose 4 of his last 5 fights before he moved to heavy weight??????????
Don’t get too carried away – Justin
Look im NOT a Big Chuck fan at all
But Yes he can take a punch
At HW he would have the Speed on his feet,
LHW’s can punch just as hard as HW’s
its all about hitting the spot…
Chuck can still KO any one “IF” he lands a clean punch
Do you think Brock chould take a hard hit from Chuck?
I would like to see Brock Vs Chuck i think Brock would win
But Chuck has mad takedown defence
Man i’m a chuck fan but he cant fight at heavy weight. True some light heavy weights can punch just as hard as a HW. But you add all the extra weight Chuck would have to carry on himself and anothter HW fighter who is coming full blast..
Nah man it wont happen, not only that but you gotta add in his bad habits and lack of technique and he’d be alot slower and winded from all that stress of maintaining a fight with a HW. End result Chuck Liddel ko’d again then YOU would be on here saying he should have quit long time ago.
He cant do it anymore accept it and move on.. He would only get hurt worse than whatever damage he already sustained..
And who wants to see him laid out in the octagon for 10 mins again while all of the world holds their breath hoping he gets up. With little to no brain damage.
i don’t see him as a contender in the best division around, let alone winning enough times to earn a title fight.
BUT
he’s got great instincts and experiance still, and KTFO power.
i’d watch him fight.
rather than some young guy who is way faster i’d rather see someone who is an interesting match up -
randy, bas rutten types. etc.
keep in mind who he has been losing to if you want to rate him
I think Chuck should just walk away. He is alot slower than he used to be, his punch resistance isnt what it used to be etc etc. I dont see why anyone would want to see him in there again. If you were a fan of the 100% Chuck, then why do you want to watch 65% Chuck?
the reason people are calling for chuck’s retirement is not mainly because of the ways he lost, its his technique in his losses. his hands are too low to block the punches and he doesnt see punches coming anymore. in his 3 ko losses, he didnt see the guys loading up their punches. add to the fact that after the 3 ko losses you could clearly hear and see chuck say what happened? to the ref and doctors. chuck doesnt have ktfo power anymore. if he did he wouldve ko’d wandy. his shots landed clean on wandy and wandy kept coming at him without looking dazed or confused, then rampage ko’d wandy with a short punch. so am I to take it that rampage has more ktfo power than chuck? chuck’s skills are going away and if he continues to fight he could get seriously hurt.
I’m calling for him to retire because he keeps getting KO brutally and he has lost 4 outta 5 and he’s not ducking or slipping punches or keeping his hands up {which he never has} and his chin aint there anymore and his speech has slurred and stutters and he is rich so he’s okay on money and he cant keep up with the comp. anymore and I dont want him to be the poster boy for MMA being looked at as another or give anymore reason why this sport is considered barbaric because he died in the ring when he shoulda stop fighting when it was obvious he needed to.
And yes Rampage IMO has more “KTFO” power than Chuck does. Especially now! And that “short punch” Page threw woulda put down any fighter in the MMA world.. That was a perfect uncoiled punch that landed flush in the midst of exchange of punches. OR as Joe Rogan called it TORQUE.!!
I hear what your saying
Chuck is like a one trick pony ( im not putting him down)
and yes his technique has let him down
you cant have your hands down low ect.
but time will tell what he is going to do
I would not mind seeing chuck fight again, but I don’t think it can do him any good. I don’t see him matching up with any light heavyweights and I don’t think he is going to be allowed to thrust himself into the heavyweight title picture much less compete with some of these guys like Heath Herring and Antoni Hardnoick (forgive my spelling)and they are not even the title holders.
Brock and Chuck would be a circus side show. Chuck is better than that. He has fought everyone he needs to fight.
But lastly if Chuck wants to fight then the UFC should respect him enough to give him a quality match and just let it happen.
Like him or not he was great.
okay well ill just be the one to say it lol
uhh just have chuck fight randy one more time and then have both of them retire. just saying it still would be interesting ahahahah
you laugh but that was rumored for the Germany show, not saying I’d want to see it or that it’d be relevant but that may be one of the only fights J. Silva would be allowed to book for Chuck.