FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Penick's Take PENICK: Looking back on the career of Chuck Liddell part five - The fights that never happened

Jun 18, 2010 - 6:19:03 PM

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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 has faced some of the best of the best in the history of the light heavyweight division throughout his 12 year career, but there were still some fights that never came to fruition for any number of reasons that would have been great to see. Below are some of the fighters I would have loved to see Liddell face off against.

Forrest Griffin

The season one Ultimate Fighter winner, coached by Chuck on that season, made his way to the top of the light heavyweight division a year after Chuck was dropped from the top spot by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. In the two years since, this is a fight that has been discussed on a few occasions, and Liddell was a fight away from setting it up at least two times.

Unfortunately, Liddell was knocked out by Rashad Evans at UFC 88, giving Evans the title shot against Griffin that December, and with his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 115, he lost out on the fight again as Franklin may now end up getting a fight with Griffin.

This would have been an excellent light heavyweight matchup, and would have done massive business for the UFC had they been able to set it up. The story line of this fight would have been an easy sell, and with both fighters being high on the list of fan favorites in the UFC, people would have definitely tuned in for the bout.

Dan Henderson

Another fight that came close to happening, Liddell would have had a chance to unify the UFC and Pride Championships against Hendo had he defeated "Rampage" at UFC 71 in 2007. Henderson had just come over from Pride when the UFC purchased the organization's assets, and as a two division Champion was getting set for a couple of very good fights against the Champions from both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

With the wars that Henderson had in Pride and the fights he had throughout his UFC tenure, it's incredible that a meeting between the two highly respected veterans never took place. Had they been matched up prior to 2008, it would have been a massive fight between two fighters at the top of their games, but unfortunately it's another instance where their paths simply never crossed.

Kazushi Sakuraba

One of the most legendary figures in Japanese MMA history, Sakuraba faced off against a number of Chuck's foes in Pride, picking up wins over the likes of Quinton Jackson and Kevin Randleman, while losing (twice) to Wanderlei Silva.

Both fighters have held similar levels of popularity with their respective audiences and have both been involved in MMA for roughly the same amount of time. Hell, Sakuraba's only got a couple of months on Chuck in the age department as well.

They were each well versed in a certain realm of the game, Liddell with his unorthodox stand up and sprawl and brawl game, Sakuraba with his submission skills, but this is another situation where the paths of the two simply didn't cross. This is another one of those fights that, had it happened at a certain time, would have been massive to a lot of MMA fans, hardcores especially.

Liddell made a couple of trips to Pride in the early 2000s, and had this fight taken place in Japan it could have been a very big deal. Both fighters in 2010 represent only a shell of the fighter they once were, but there was certainly a time when the two of them could have been matched up for a massive bout. It's yet another we will never see.

Ricardo Arona

Here's another Pride fighter that would have made for a great challenge for Liddell during his prime fighting years from 2004-2007. This could have been a highly important bout for both organizations had it taken place before the UFC's big breakout year in 2005, but once again it was a situation where Arona was only in Japan while Liddell was in the U.S.

He was able to take the Wanderlei Silva fight two years after it would have meant something huge, and even though they provided one of the great fights in UFC history, you were left wondering what could have been had the two of them been at their absolute best.

That's what would have made this such a great matchup, as the Arona of 2005 had only been defeated by Fedor Emelinanenko (by decision) and Quinton Jackson, the latter because of the highlight reel slam and subsequent headbutting collision that put him out cold.

A prime Arona vs. a prime Liddell would have been fantastic, and though this is probably the one fight on this list that never would have come close to happening, it quite possibly could have been one of the better match-ups.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

This is a fight that definitely could have happened in the UFC had Chuck not suffered through this recent career ending string of KO blows. Nogueira is making his way up the light heavyweight ladder after two straight wins in the Octagon, but the former Pride fighter is another that came into prominence in the division as Chuck was doing the same.

It's taken him longer to get himself mentioned as a potential title challenger, but he's someone that would have matched up with a prime Liddell really well and could have made for an extremely exciting fight.

This would have only been able to happen if Chuck hadn't gone out the way he has, but much like the Arona fight it could have been a great one from an in-cage stand point, not to mention the UFC vs. Pride connotations it would have brought to the proceedings once again.

-With the exception of Griffin, all of these fights would have been in the "UFC vs. Pride" vein, but considering the rise of Liddell coincided with the fall of Pride it's natural for many of those fighters to be on the list of people he hadn't been able to face in his career.

Still, despite never having had the chance to test himself against these, in their own respective ways, formidable challengers, Liddell will still remain one of the greatest light heavyweights in the young history of the sport. As time goes on other fighters will surely surpass his accomplishments in the UFC, but he was still the sport's first true superstar in the U.S. Because of that, he won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Thanks for reading through this five part series here on MMATorch this week. I've enjoyed the nostalgic look back at Chuck Liddell, and though it will be sad to not see "The Iceman" back in the cage, it's for the best and it should be time for him to hang it up. Good luck and best wishes to Chuck for all of his future work and anything he does moving forward with the UFC. And once again, a massive "thank you" for everything he's done for the fans, the sport and the UFC.

RELATED STORY: Part Four - Liddell's five best fights: [CLICK TO READ ARTICLE]

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