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Opinion & Analysis
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Penick's Take
PENICK: Looking back on the career of Chuck Liddell part two - "The Iceman" becomes the face of MMA during Championship reign
The career of Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, in all estimation, came to an end on Saturday night in Vancouver at UFC 115. In this five part series, we'll take a look back at one of the greatest light heavyweight fighters in the sport's young history.
Chuck Liddell rocketed to superstardom in 2005 with the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. As one of the two coaches on the inaugural season of the now long running reality show, Liddell was introduced to a new era of fans, many getting their first exposure to the sport of mixed martial arts through the show.
When the show finished airing, and the TUF 1 finale bout between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar blew fans away, Liddell got his second shot at fellow coach Randy Couture for the Light Heavyweight Championship.
Liddell was 15-3, and the shot at Couture was his first opportunity to avenge one of his three losses. Almost two years earlier, Couture had finished Liddell by TKO in the third round, but their rematch was an entirely different story. Riding the momentum from the Ultimate Fighter and two victories in 2004, Liddel took Couture out in quick fashion, finishing "The Natural" by TKO just over two minutes into the first round. Liddell's long journey, begun all the way back at UFC 17 in 1998, had finally culminated in a Light Heavyweight Championship.
At the time this was the most significant and largest drawing pay-per-view fight in UFC history. It was the first UFC pay-per-view to hit 300,000 buys, the live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was by far the largest at the time, bringing in over $2.5 million.
Liddell immediately became the most well known UFC fighter, and the sports first true star. As the most recognizable face in the game, Liddell's reign from 2005 to 2007 was completely unparalleled in the U.S. in terms of business and popularity.
His first Title defense gave him a chance to avenge the first loss of his career, as he faced Jeremy Horn at UFC 54, just four months after capturing the belt. The fight was a completely different affair from their first bout, which came at UFC 19 nearly seven years earlier. Liddell was an infinitely more improved fighter in his 21st fight than he was in his fourth, and he dominated Horn through three and a half rounds. The fight came to a halt after Liddell busted Horn in his left eye, forcing Horn to tell the referee he couldn't see.
Next up was a rematch with Randy Couture in February of 2006, a bout set up as the completion to their trilogy after Couture had taken out Mike Van Arsdale. This time, Couture made it into the second round before the bout went the same way as the second fight, with Liddell dropping Couture with a combination and forcing the referee to stop the fight.
Renato "Babalu" Sobral was next in line in August of 2006. After losing to Liddell in their first bout almost four years prior to the rematch, Babalu went on a 10 fight win streak in and out of the UFC. He got himself into the rematch with Liddell, but the result was much the same. Liddell finished Sobral in just over a minute and a half, marking his third straight Title defense and setting up the biggest fight in UFC history.
In his rematch with Tito Ortiz at UFC 66, the two sold out the MGM Grand Garden Arena, setting a live gate record that still holds for the venue to this day. In addition to the gate numbers, the event held the pay-per-view buyrate record for the next two and half years, until UFC 100 broke that record.
The rematch, much like Liddell managed to do in his second fight with Babalu and his third fight with Couture, ended in very similar fashion to the first bout between the two. Liddell again unleashed a flurry of punches against Ortiz against the cage, earning a TKO stoppage late in the third round to notch his fourth consecutive title defense.
Liddell would enter 2007 as by far the biggest name in the UFC, and a chance to avenge the the third loss on his record was on the horizon with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's entrance in the UFC. After setting records and bringing the sport serious coverage on ESPN for the first time, Liddell's time in the limelight had peaked, and his time as the top light heavyweight fighter in the UFC was about to come to an end.
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