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Dana White reiterates his decision to force Liddell to retire

5K views 58 replies 38 participants last post by  coldcall420 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
“Chuck Liddell is stupid rich. Chuck Liddell is done. He’s got nothing left to prove. He’s the most famous guy on Earth. I love him like a ******* brother and I don’t want to see him get hurt. There is no reason for it. He’s ******* 40 years old man. These guys that are fighting now are young, explosive, fast ******* kids who are well rounded mixed martial artists. There’s no ******* reason for Chuck Liddell to be out there at 40 years old still fighting. I don’t want to make a ******* nickel off that ever. Believe me, it will be a ******* war if he tries not to retire, believe me. I love him. He helped me build this business. We started when he was making five hundred and five hundred. And we had the dream of him becoming a big star and winning the title and making all kinds of money. We did it all man. We ******* did it all. We did it. We did it. It’s ******* over. He’s 40 years old, it is over. It was amazing that he was able to fight until he was 40. That’s what a bad motherfucker he was. He has nothing to prove to anybody, period. It’s over. We did everything that we set out to do. It has been an amazing run, its been fun. We did it together, we stayed loyal to each other the whole time and we did everything that we hoped to do and now its over. He can do it financially. And plus, I’m going to bring him into the organization in some other way and he’s still going to make money. He’s been loyal to me and I’ve been loyal to him and that’s not going to change now that he’s retiring. He’ll always be a part of the organization. He’ll take on another role, he’ll still make money and he’ll be with me until the day we die…. I always say is that I’ve built this business using the blueprint of boxing, what not to do. We know that you shouldn’t be fighting past your prime, you know?”

-UFC president Dana White talks to insidefighting.com about his reasoning behind forcing former UFC light-heavyweight champ and close friend, Chuck Liddell, to retire after his most recent loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at this past weekend's UFC 97. Before the bout, White stated that Liddell would have to win and win convincingly for the opportunity to keep fighting for the promotion and now that he lost, White is adament that Liddell is retired. "The Iceman" wasn't quick to say he was retired at the post fight press conference as he said he would need a couple days to decide. Liddell's head trainer John Hackleman said that Liddell would have a decision in the next week. Dana White says Liddell is retired but does "The Iceman" have other ideas, we shall see in the coming days what Liddell's decision will be.

Chuck Liddell's UFC 97 loss was his fourth in his last five fights, with the other losses coming to Rashad Evans at UFC 88, Keith Jardine at UFC 76 and Quinton Jackson at UFC 71. If Liddell decides to retire then what a truly legendary career he had and he has nothing to be ashamed of as he has 21-7 overall MMA record, with notables wins over Tito Ortiz (2x), Randy Couture (2x), Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral (2x), Wanderlei Silva, Jeff Monson and Alistair Overeem.
source: http://www.fiveknuckles.com/mma-new...-his-decision-to-force-Liddell-to-retire.html
 
#6 ·
Unfortunately I think Dana's right. As much as I'd like to see the Iceman fight again, and as much as I'm sure he'd like to, I think it's time. I'd love to hear Chuck with Goldy and Rogan. I think he'd make a fine commentator, though hes often very soft-spoken during interviews.
 
#9 ·
I dont appreciate the idea of this as Tito is more appauling than Chuck and Chuck would possibly end Tito's career even though his isnt going anywhere. The thing is Tito cant stand and trade with Chuck, also his wrestling against Chucks sprawls makes him look amateur most of the time. So overall not a good idea so give Tito another fighter who will wrestle with him as I will find that an interesting match up. Also for Chuck this fight would be good but mainly I think that he will just retire and sink into a meaningless role in the ufc,
 
#11 ·
sometimes Dana is right and sometimes he is wrong. This time I have to agree with him, I hope so bad that Chuck retires for three reasons. He is too slow to fight anymore, he has absolutely nothing to prove anymore he has already beaten enough guys to be known as one of the greatest lhw's of all time and I so badly do not want him to go out there and be a human punching bag if Dana wants to give him a job doing something else he should take it so he doesn't get brain damage.
 
#12 ·
I'd like to see Chuck return just to see White's reaction. The drama would just be ridiculous. Honestly, the only way to keep Chuck out of a ring or octagon at this point is by offering him co-ownership or "apprentice" ownership of the UFC. He'd become the fourth man in the hierarchy, after the Fertittas, and White. Give Liddell a 2% stake, which would be worth a cool $20 million, and a salary on top of that.

Otherwise, he's going to climb back into a cage or ring somewhere, cross his arms, hear the cheers and roars, and then you can guess what would come next...
 
#14 ·
I don't blame Chuck for wanting to fight more he's a fighter but this is only going to stain his legacy.

Sad really but at the same time I don't blame him.
 
#19 ·
First DW is full of it. 5 months ago a 43 y/o Couture fought Lesnar and 3 months ago 44 y/o Coleman was offered up for Shogun.

For DW to suggest he'd never make a dime off a 40 y/o fighting is clearly bullsh!t.

It's funny how people like to swing to extremes.

Two fights ago Chuck looked great againt Wanderlei and Dana is talking about potential title shots. Until he got caught he was beating Rashad.

Chuck isn't as quick as he was when he was younger. That's just how aging goes. However he is hardly washed up. His biggest problem has been sticking to a high risk game plan.

When Chuck retires should be his decision. It's his life to live; not Dana's.
 
#30 ·
I agree. Randy and Coleman haven't come anywhere close to looking like they used to, so why is it so much different that Chuck isn't as good as he was?

Randy is definitely slowing down and Coleman has been slowing down for awhile. But lets compare them. Chuck Liddell is 21-7 . Randy Couture is now 17-10. That is hardly an impressive record anymore. Yet people still talk about how great he was.

Now lets compare Liddell and Coleman. Here is their last five fights.

Mark Coleman
Stephan Bonnar (W)
Shogun Rua (L)
Pedro Rizzo (L)
Pete Williams (L)
Maurice Smith (L)

Coleman is 1-4 in his last 5 fights and he was (T)KO'd in 2 of them. And he isn't fighting people nearly as good as the people that Chuck Liddell is fighting.

Chuck Liddell
Shogun Rua (L)
Rashad Evans (L)
Wanderlei Silva (W)
Keith Jardine (L)
Rampage Jackson (L)

So as you can see both Liddell and Coleman have dropped 4 of their last 5. But the list of opponents isn't even close. Liddell has fought the top fighters while Coleman hasn't. (With the exception of Shogun)

My point is, why is Chuck being forced to retire, while Coleman just gets fed more opponents? Not to mention Chuck is also younger than Coleman as well. I don't understand why people are writing off Chuck Liddell when Couture and Coleman have slowed down tremendously as well, but Dana White doesn't try and get them to retire. They are both legends as well, so this can't be about tainting his legacy.
 
#21 ·
I think that if dana is really as good a friends with chuck as he says, then his decision to retire chuck and give him a paying job elsewhere in the ufc is a respectable one. although i do also agree completely with thenegation that it should have been done in private.

While dana did invite couture at 44 and coleman at 45 back to fight, i think his decisions were understandable. coleman wanted to fight, probably because he needed to money. coleman isn't danas good friend, but he is a decent draw, so if coleman wants to fight then sure, he can fight.

Couture is 44, and has had issues with the ufc and contracts etc. he may be 44 but the guy is a model of good health and fitness. Not only that, but he could actually back himself and when he did return, he won the heavyweight belt. Thus, his return was justifiable.

Chuck however, has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. 3 or those 4 losses have been via brutal knockout. I can't really see a way to justify him staying in the sport. He has been there while the UFC rose to it's current heights. He has been champion. he has fought the best, and beat the best. he is mega rich. So it's hard to justify him to keep fighting, especially if he's dana's friend. It's like if your own friend wanted to keep fighting, but kept getting brutally knocked out. he's your friend. he's taking serious damage, and he has a wife and kids to support. I think dana's decision is justified, and by giving chuck a position elsewhere in the ufc, probably as a commentator or promotor, he is basically compromising with chuck by saying, 'dont worry about money, i will continue to pay you well - i just dont want to see you keep taking unneccesary damage'.

so yeah, i actually agree with dana here, and can completely see his point. i would almost definately do the same thing - except for, as negation said, making it public. By making it public like this, many casual fans or people who simply read headlines could interpret it as dana losing respect for chuck - when in fact, it's actually the opposite.
 
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#31 ·
In a way Dana is right.
It's not the fact that Chuck is that old (Coleman and Couture are older), but he has lost his last fights baddly.
The LHW division is full of young guns, stronger and faster than Chuck. I think, a run at the title, is out of the question. And honestly, i don't see any point of him coming back, so that he can fight B level fighters, and maybe lose to those too.

One thing do. It would make a great farewell present for him, (if he really wants to fight that bad) a fight against Tito or Randy. It would be huge. I think there's a lot of fans out there who would love to see any of these 2 fights.
 
#32 ·
But the problem isn't just the age thing, it's that people like Coleman are getting fights like Bonnar and all of the others that I mentioned in my earlier post while Liddell is getting people like Wand and Jardine and Rampage and Rashad. They have both recently fought Shogun but any of the last 5 fights isn't even close. Coleman's record doesn't even come close to Liddell's.

I just want to know why when Coleman stopped beating the cream of the crop he was given a lighter schedule. When Liddell stops beating the top fighters, he is supposed to retire.
 
#38 ·
You know I've said it before. He's not too old to be a fighter. A real fighter never looses the bug. Granted the Dancing with the stars thing is disheartening...but still he's chuck liddel. He's the original face of Mainstream MMA. He never should have been forced to retire, just forced back into hardened training to refocus the man. He could have been great still, its a shame.

Also, damn, what a mouth on that bald SOB!
 
#40 ·
he should just train with a real camp for once
 
#43 ·
So a guy that is a legend of the Sport that fought out of The Pit his whole life never trained at a good cam???

The for once statement frankly was retarded...

Thats a great camp, or it was and still is fr Chuck, Chuck is done but his reign at the top for as long as it was all came from the totalidge of Hack and The Pit.....
 
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