Quarterly Rankings
With speculation swirling that a loss at UFC 115 could mean the end of the line for Chuck Liddell's fighting career, UFC president Dana White continued his candid discussion of "The Iceman's" future.
Liddell (21-7, 17-6 UFC), the former UFC light-heavyweight champion, has more wins inside the Octagon than any other fighter in UFC history, but has seen his fortunes fade since losing the belt to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 71. Just 1-4 over his last five fights, Liddell will be facing a critical test when he faces Rich Franklin (25-5 1 NC, 13-4 UFC) in Vancouver on Saturday night.
"A lot of people have been talking about my comments and stuff that went on between Chuck Liddell and I about me wanting him to retire," said White. "My biggest issue with Chuck Liddell is his life stock. He became literally the most famous mixed martial artist in the world. World champion and let's just say he wasn't living the lifestyle of a professional athlete. He took some time off, reevaluated his career, his life, and let me tell you, I keep saying and I don't want to sound condescending but I'm very proud of what he's done. How he's turned himself around. He's gotten himself in fantastic shape and he's been training like this, working like this since the filming of The Ultimate Fighter. I expect a great fight."
Liddell hasn't seen action since his TKO loss to current light-heavyweight champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 97 last April, but he's been working hard during his time away, including a stint as a coach on season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter. For White, the results have been impressive.
"Like I said, my big beef with Chuck was his lifestyle and he has changed his lifestyle," White stated. "I consider Rich Franklin one of the best in the world so we will see what happens Saturday night. Then I'll sit down with Chuck and will talk about it, evaluate it from there. It's not a straight win or lose, just depends on how things go. You guys know how I am. And I was very verbal before and I wanted him to hang it up. In my opinion, he wasn't taking it seriously anymore. The guy was so talented and so good for so long, he could do what he was doing and still knock people out. That wasn't the case again, and you haven't heard me bitch about anything. I am happy with where he is at and I am happy with how he has changed his lifestyle, and how he is training. You see the pictures of him? He didn't look like that when he was 22 (laughs). He looks great, it's unbelievable. It's not a matter of if he could change his lifestyle, it's if he wanted to. If he still had it in him to go out and train that hard and compete. I think when we seriously started talking about him, saying maybe it's time to hang it up, offer them to come in the office and start working here (laughing). That turned him around real quick."
Liddell has no arguments that it was time for him to make a change.
"Yeah, I think I needed to change my lifestyle," admitted Liddell. "I mean was it bad? No, I mean I came into training camp, I trained hard and did everything I was supposed too but I spent too much time in the off-season out and having a little too much fun. Not getting better and...
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