“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.