Liddell Retires As An All-Time Great

History should recall Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell kindly. Though recent memories of Liddell are not so complimentary (being as he’s been knocked out in four of his last six bouts), we also know from experience that in time, he will be remembered more for what he did in his prime than for the struggles he had when he attempted to extend his career.

Anyone who doubts this can take a look at fellow athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, and others to see how they are remembered. While no one has forgotten Ali being defeated by Larry Holmes or Jordan’s run with the Washington Wizards, those aren’t the enduring memories of either athlete. Just wait, even Brett Favre will in time be remembered more for his exploits in Green Bay than his un-retirements and apparent naughty text messages to attractive media personnel. Well, maybe.

The point is that though Liddell retires without being at the top of his game, the discussion should not be one of relief due to Liddell finally realizing that he is better off moving on, but instead of the greatness that Liddell displayed during his lengthy time as a top competitor in the sport. Being that MMA is still a young sport, Liddell has the honor of not only being one of the best to compete, but also an innovator: a template that other fighters have already begun building upon, but that no fighter before him had been able to assume the role of.

Here was a man who presented a nightmare of a matchup problem for nearly every other fighter on the planet: he couldn’t be taken down, and striking with him was a recipe for disaster. Though he liked to keep his hands down and eat punches in order to land them, his granite chin allowed him to do so with impunity. Meanwhile, those who did take him down, even the great Randy Couture, had trouble keeping him down. Nowadays, it has become fairly common to see fighters simply stand back up after a takedown, but Liddell was the first to do so on a regular basis against top-flight competition.

Many times, fans do not appreciate the particular mental focus and self confidence that is required to succeed in big fights. In recent years, we have seen quality competitors fold under pressure and heard fighters be accused of “choking” when the stakes were highest. Liddell would never have been accused of such, however.

Whether it was when taking a fight against a top ten fighter with a title shot on the line, facing a future Hall of Famer for the title itself, or finally taking on a long-time nemesis that everyone knew would never shut up if he somehow snagged the win, Liddell was up to the challenge more often than not. This was important for a career that was built upon big fights: for most of his UFC career, Liddell was either one of the biggest draws the company had or was the face of the promotion as a whole.

Liddell was also the epitome of a fan favorite: a fighter who would truly take on all comers and who always fought to finish fights. Chuck would never be accused of being a tactician, at least not in the way that we hear the word slung around today, as a backhanded compliment for an often-boring fighter. You knew exactly what Liddell was going to try to do in his fights, and many of his interviews featured him saying the same thing with his trademark shrug and unyielding stare: “I’m gonna go out there and knock him out.”

It’s tempting for many Liddell fans to be bummed out about the way his career has ended, but should they be? Is there a more appropriate ending for a fighter who seemingly never considered the risks of letting it all hang out, and who never considered another route to victory than working to decimate his opponents, no matter the cost? Everyone who steps in to compete in an MMA fight is a fighter, but not all are warriors in the way that Liddell was and is.

Liddell loved fighting, whether it was for a title or just to see who was better at it. He wasn’t just going to walk away because he had enough money in the bank or because he got tired of training camps. In his fights, Liddell was not going to stop coming at you unless you knocked him out cold, so in retrospect, it should have been obvious that it was also the only way that his career would end. Even in his last fight against Rich Franklin, with his career obviously on the line, Liddell couldn’t restrain himself when he appeared to have Franklin hurt. He plunged forward at full-speed, doing what he always had done- looking to finish his foe.

Maybe at some point in the future, you’ll have the chance to talk to another MMA fan about Liddell’s career and his place in history. Please, tell these unfortunate souls who won’t understand the dominance that Liddell displayed or the context of the fights he competed in at the time that they actually happened that Liddell undoubtedly belongs among the all-time greats in the sport.

Liddell was a great representative for the sport, known to all who met him as a good guy outside of the cage, and always accommodating to the fans. In the cage, though, he was a stone-cold killer. With men like Liddell, there’s only one way that things can end.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Chuck Liddell, UFC