Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell lost for the fourth time in five fights this past weekend and obviously everyone is questioning what happens to him now. I will go on the record right now and say that I am not a fan of Chuck Liddell. I have thought he has been on the downside of his career for a few years now (before he started losing) and am honestly glad to say that he will no longer be forced down our throats as the "Biggest MMA superstar of all time" according to Dana White and Zuffa (This title goes to Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz, or Randy Couture. I think it is fairly save to say that the general population knows those guys better than Liddell).

In Liddell's past seven fights, I have only picked him to win once. I picked him to lose to Renato Sobral, I did pick him to beat Tito Ortiz, and since then I have picked him against Quinton Jackson, Keith Jardine, Wanderlei Silva, Rashad Evans, and Mauricio Rua. Some say I may have just picked against him out of hate, but I have always left my personal feelings out of picking fights. And if you need proof, I have picked 5 of those 7 fights correctly, which is a lot more than most people have got right.

I have always believed that Liddell is a one dimensional fighter. Or two dimensional if you count his eye-poking technique (can you imagine if he fought Dan Bobish? A guy who likes to put fingers in his opponents eyes - Liddell - against someone who when he gets in trouble, fakes getting poked in the eye - Bobish). Liddell has always been an overhand right fighter. Yes he has other skills, but when it all comes down to it, he looks for that one punch. That worked for him 5 years ago, but the sport is always evolving and I think Liddell didn't evolve with the rest of the fighters on the UFC roster. His opponent knew that he would be looking for that one punch and managed to game plan accordingly. Getting brutally knocked out in 3 of his last 5 fights, it is safe to say that Chuck Liddell will never be a top 10 fighter again. He is not Randy Couture who will still be a tough fighter into his 40's. Liddell is done.

I don't think this is the last time we will see Chuck Liddell fighting in the UFC. I think he will get one more fight, and it will be promoted as his retirement fight. They will give him a fairly soft opponent that he should beat (a Krzystof Soszynski or a Steve Cantwell) so that he can go out on top. Liddell has made Zuffa a ton of money over the years and that will be Zuffa's way or repaying him for his years of service. Liddell was the first PPV star that most "TUF noobs" saw and as such he became a poster boy for the UFC. You must also remember that Liddell got Dana White into the world of mixed martial arts (White managed Liddell back in the day). Dana and Zuffa will take care of Chuck Liddell for life. After his one send off fight, I feel he will get an ambassador role or something similar and be on the Zuffa payroll for life.