At 39 years of age many seem to believe that Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, once the light heavyweight king of the UFC, is already past his prime. Coming from his first knockout loss the last time he was inside the octagon, the Iceman is looking to revitalize his fast fading MMA career. He will be facing a formidable opponent in Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a match that has been years in the making.
The 205-lbs. KingChuck Liddell is one of the most popular UFC fighters of all time, and some even argue that he is responsible for bringing the sport into the mainstream during the peak of his career. He debuted in the UFC in 1998 in a unanimous decision victory Noe Hernandez. A technical knockout defeat followed his impressive debut in the hands of former contender Jeremy Horn.
Being the future champ that he was, Liddell bounced back and won 10 of his next 11 fights en route to winning the belt against arch-rival Randy Couture in April of 2005. He then continued to dominate the division by defending his title successfully 4 times in a row against division contenders Jeremy Horn, Randy Cotoure, Renato Sobral, and Tito Ortiz.
The Fall of ChuckAfter almost 2 years of ruling the light heavyweight division, the Iceman finally found his match in Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The fight was stopped early in the very first round when the former PRIDE champion caught Liddell with a hook right on the button. Jackson was crowned as the new light heavyweight champion and this was a tough pill to swallow for the very proud Liddell. His comeback fight was at best unimpressive as he lost to Keith Jardine in a tightly-contested split decision.
This was unfamiliar territory for the Iceman as this was the first time he experienced back to back losses. Some thought the Iceman was back when he defeated the legendary Wanderlei Silva in 2007 in a match that has been dubbed as one of the greatest in UFC history. However, he suffered the worst loss of his career to current champion "Sugar" Rashad Evans wherein he was knocked out with a single punch.
The similarity of this loss to that of the Jackson defeat made some think that Chuck's style was no longer fit for the new breed of UFC warriors. Liddell will be out to prove his critics wrong as he faces celebrated Brazilian warrior Shogun in UFC 97 this Sunday.
The MatchupWhile Liddell was taking out his opponents one by one in the UFC, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was doing an equally impressive job halfway around the world. In 2005 Shogun won the PRIDE Grand Prix tournament in Japan and some even considered him as the number one fighter in the light-heavyweight division, above Liddell. He defeated the likes of Kevin Randleman, Quinton Jackson and Alistair Overeem (twice). But that was then. Shogun lost his UFC debut against Forest Griffin and then underwent two knee surgeries.
Although he won his last fight against UFC hall-of-famer Mark Coleman, he was out of gas early in the fight prompting criticisms about his stamina and endurance. Even though this fight would have been much better if it had gone down three years ago, it is still a matchup to look out for as both fighters have their backs against the wall and will be looking for a much-needed win to revive their careers.
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