Issue 015

July 2006

He’s tired, he’s got a cold and strangers keep asking to shake his hand. He’s flown halfway across the world to do PR for the company he works for, and this is just the latest in a long series of interviews that he has had to contend with. Life ain’t easy for the UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. 

When I meet him though, he is sat in a small nondescript office, he is spread across a low and uncomfortable sofa, flip-flops hanging from his feet and an expensive mobile phone in his hand. He barely acknowledges me as I enter the room, furiously tapping away at the keypad of his phone, audibly sighing when the pleasant young lady from FightDVD (the company who kindly arranged the interview) introduces me. 

Don’t think he is some kind of prima donna though. He admits to having a stinking cold, and says he only managed to get a few hours sleep on the plane on the way over (a private jet chartered by his bosses, the Fertitta brothers, the billionaire owners of the UFC). The first thing I tell him is that I’m not going to ask him any questions he doesn’t want to be asked, which strikes a chord with him. We chat for a while, and he begins to loosen up. Chuck, all appearances aside, is a remarkably friendly guy, and meeting fans is one thing he certainly doesn’t mind. “I like it, you see a lot of them get real excited to meet you and stuff. Its been kind of a shock getting that many people wanting to meet you. I guess I’m good with it, I like meeting people.” 

This is a guy who admits that he never dreamed he would be making money from fighting, and he obviously appreciates the fame and status MMA has given him. “I’m glad we have it, because it allows me to do what I love for a living and get paid well. A lot of people are good at what they do, I just happen to be good at something people like to watch on TV. I’m a better fighter than most people, but it doesn’t make me any better than me, or better at what they do.” 

“So you’re just still an average guy?” I ask him. “Oh man, I can’t build a thing to save my life! My buddies are construction workers and I’ve got to call them up if I need anything done at the house.” Having people there to help him out is pretty handy, but Chuck laughed when he told me he doesn’t have any problem repaying the favour. 

“My trainer will call me and say ‘“What are you doing?’” I’ll say I’m helping my friend move, and he’s like ‘“You’re doing what?! Do you think Shaq’ has his friends call him and ask him to help move?!”’  I don’t know, they come over and help me, they call me up, what am I going to say?” 

He may be at the top of his game right now, but there was a time before he was a household name. His entry into the UFC came about in a most inauspicious way. “I was just finishing up my wrestling and my college career and I started up the kickboxing just to keep busy and keep competing. Someone knew I wrestled and that I was a kickboxer, and they said ‘“You wanna try the UFC? I’ll get you in there.”’ I said sure.” 

Before he went anywhere near the Octagon though, Chuck knew he’d have to learn a little about the ground game, and he was put in the capable hands of Nova Uniao black belt and UFC veteran John Lewis. “A guy from Las Vegas, a promoter called ‘One-Kick’ Nick, he introduced me to John. He said ‘“This guy is a wrestler and a kickboxer, he’s going to do the UFC, can you help him out a little bit?”’ So I started training with John Lewis, we started working countering submissions and stuff. 

Chuck credits John with “pretty much creating my ground game”. Eschewing fancy tricks like submissions from the guard, the entire emphasis was placed upon getting back to his feet where he could use his kick boxing skills. Known for using his half guard to simply stand up from underneath his opponents (he’s done it to some truly quality grapplers), Chuck speaks highly if his time at J-SECT, the gym Lewis operates a few blocks from Las Vegas Boulevard.  The walls are covered in pictures from the late nineties, with Chuck arm in arm with people like Tito Ortiz and BJ Penn. Reading like a who’s who of MMA, J-SECT was a meeting place for some of MMA top talent. 

“Yeah, everybody used to train at his gym. There was a great group of guys there, it was a great place to go and train, those guys weren’t trying to kill me or prove something, so I could go out there and relax and train, try to do things and have fun. It was more of a ‘work-with-you’ kind of environment. I’m still close with John, he’s always in my corner when I fight.” 

Before he asserted his dominance over the UFC light heavyweight division, Liddell fought in events as far afield as Brazil and Japan. His bare-knuckle fight with Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons (our Classic Fight in Issue 5) was a brutal spectacle that lives on in fans minds as the moment where Chuck proved he wasn’t just another ‘contender’. It was only his second MMA fight. 

Most fans aren’t aware that the Brazilian wanted to get the fight started prior to the event! “He [Pele] had an attitude problem back then. He shouldered me before the weigh-ins, I just started laughing, I was like get out of here! We’re getting paid to fight in 24 hours, why don’t we just wait for that, you know? I’m not coming all the way down here to not get paid!” 

If you think you can intimidate someone called The Iceman, you’re probably not too bright, but it doesn’t stop fighters from trying. “Nah man, you can’t intimidate me! I love fighting! I always smile! I always say the harder someone tries to intimidate me, the easier the fight's going to be. If guys try to intimidate you that hard, they need that, they need to feel like you’re intimidated, so it bothers them that you’re not. If they don’t feel like you’re intimidated, it worries them.” Take a look at his fight with Tito Ortiz for a perfect example of this. 

Having felt like I’d asked enough about his career to date, I wanted to know what was going on right now in Liddell’s world. I began to ask about potential challengers to his light heavyweight title when he interrupted me, asking bluntly “Who?”   

“Uh, well you’ve got people like Babalu or Forrest” I stammered, a little taken aback. “Forrest isn’t ready for me yet,” he cut in. “Forrest is a tough guy, he’s still learning and still training, but they put him in with me now and I’m going to butcher him. Give him some time, it could be a fight, and I look forward to that.” 

That’s that then. The August match with Babalu aside (a chance for redemption for Babalu- Chuck nearly decapitated him with a high kick at UFC 40 back in 2002) theres obviously not much going on in the UFC ranks to bother him. How does he feel about this quiet period? 

“I hear rumours that Wanderlei [Silva, PRIDE champion] might be coming over, which would be wonderful. And Rampage [Quinton Jackson, who Chuck lost to in 2003], his PRIDE contract has come up too. I’d like to get that out of the way, it’s the only loss I haven’t avenged yet. Before I’m done, I’d like to get a shot at him. Wanderlei would also be perfect, if he came over that would be excellent.” 

“That would be quite an entertaining fight for the fans” I remark. “Oh it’d be a great fight for the fans,” he says suddenly sitting up in his chair, obviously excited by the prospect of these mouth-watering matches. “I think it’d be a travesty if we never fight. I could fight him like the couple of guys who have beaten him did, like Tito, just take him down and lay on top of him, but sorry, that’s just not me. I think however long the fight lasts, I don’t think it’d be a long fight, but it would be a fun one until he hits the canvas.” 

For Chuck, its as much about proving to people he is one of the best fighters in the world as it is about putting on a bit of entertainment. “I want to prove people like Wanderlei and Rampage that I can beat them. He [Rampage] knows that I can beat him, I’ve seen him fight, and I’m not worried about him. I‘d love to fight those guys, I think they’d make good shows, they’d be good fights. They aren’t exactly a walk in the park, this is a sport where anybody at any given time that’s that good can win a fight, but it would make it an interesting show. It would fun to have some of those guys come over.”

How this may play out is anyone’s guess. Silva has just announced he will be returning to compete in the second round of the PRIDE open weight grand prix, and Rampage has recently signed to fight for the WFA. Whether the UFC can lure either fighter away will remain to be seen. 

So what’s next for Chuck Liddell? “Babalu in August, and then somewhere down the road maybe a Tito fight, just for fun. Other than that, I plan to just keep fighting and stay busy, and keep promoting the sport.” 

Thanks to FightDVD for arranging the interview.