From MMATorch.com
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Liddell says he's not going to be fighting Silva or Couture
By By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Dec 4, 2008 - 3:22:32 PM
Chuck Liddell was interviewed today in the U.K.'s Fighters Only magazine, and he cleared up some rumors and speculation about his possible opponent(s) for 2009. He also addressed questions about retirement following his knockout loss to Rashad Evans.
He addressed his next fight, and he said "[n]obody has talked to me at all about Randy or Anderson Silva in any recent talks. I know there was talk of me fighting [Anderson] in February. That is definitely not true, I‘m not fighting until March or April."
And in regards to that rumored fourth meeting with Randy Couture in June, Chuck said, "I’ll have to talk to Dana about that, but I haven’t heard anything about that, I really don’t know where it came from or who was talking about it...To me at this point it doesn’t make sense."
Liddell said he doesn't want to become the old guy in the cage who people feel sorry for because he can't do it anymore and yet he keeps going out there. He said "I don’t think that fight [with Rashad] was that fight [for me]. I was winning the fight and I got caught...I didn’t want it to happen, I’m working on some stuff to make sure I don’t make those same mistakes again and I’m working on some different things, but that wasn’t the fight that will make me decide to quit."
What would make the "Iceman" decide to hang 'em up? "If I walk out there and I just take a beating and I just don’t feel like I have it any more, or if I can’t compete with the guys in the gym anymore, then I will decide not to go in the ring again."
Then he added, "But at this point I still think I have a lot to give."
Link to Original Source Article
Penick's Analysis: We're back to the drawing board once again with this constant rumor and speculation trip on when and where Chuck will be fighting next. I do hope that when he does fight again that he's able to regain some of that old flare and acumen that made the "Iceman" into the star he became. I don't, however, want to see him stick around too long and become the guy he described above.
[Liddell photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch.com]
© Copyright by MMATorch.com