Chuck Liddell
December 17, 2008 by MMA Spark
Filed under MMA Fighters
Charles David ‘Chuck’ Liddell was born on the 17th of December 17 in 1969. Chuck is also known as “The Iceman” in the UFC circuits and is a well known American mixed martial artist. Chuck is an ex-UFC light heavyweight champion. He also has a very extensive background in the art of kickboxing as well as in collegiate wrestling. The “Ice Man” is well known in the MMA community as well as the circuit for his extraordinary abilities to takedown defense. He is also well known for his abilities to knockout his opponents. He is mainly regarded as a stand-up fighter. Chuck generally relies on his amazing background in Kempo and Koei-Kan karate. He uses his wrestling skills well in order to defend against takedowns. Chuck Liddell is often acclaimed as an unorthodox striker thanks to his relaxed hands-down stance not to mention the angles he chooses to throw punches at his opponents.
Chuck Liddell began his unpretentious study of the Koei-Kan karate art form at a very early age. He started at the age of 12, when most kids are obsessed with skate-boards and the latest video-games. From the start he had been very serious about his karate studies. He also has a “Koei-Kan” tattoo etched on his scalp. He grew up in Santa Barbara and later went onto to become a Division I wrestler at the California Polytechnic State and graduated with a Degree in Business/Accounting later. Liddell began to train in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu styles under the able guidance of John Lewis in Las Vegas.
Chuck’s UFC debut happened in the year 1998. In his first ever UFC match he scored a victory over a certain Noe Hernandez. Soon, Liddell began to establish his strong reputation. He worked real hard to become a devastating striker and gained victories over several UFC fighters including Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral, Kevin Randleman and Murilo Bustamante over the period of a next few years.
By the year 2002, Chuck Liddell had already become a force to be reckoned with and reached the level of mastery in UFC where he was considered to be the number one contender for UFC’s light heavyweight title. He had a really prospering popularity as well as hardcore support from his fans and friends. UFC did try for a title match to take place between Chuck and the then-champion Tito Ortiz; however Ortiz provided the excuse of scheduling conflicts. UFC then created a light heavyweight championship on a temporary basis. The UFC matched Liddell with an experienced wrestler and ex-heavyweight champion Randy Couture. Chuck was defeated in the match and later became the official representative of UFC at the PRIDE 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament. He defeated Alistair Overeem in the first round of the tournament but was later eliminated by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Ortiz and Liddell met in a match once again and this time Chuck won. In early 2005, Liddell was featured on TV in the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. In the show, Liddell served as a coach of Team Liddell.
Liddell finally became the UFC light heavyweight champion in 2005 in a match against Couture in UFC 52. In UFC 54, he had to defend his newly earned title against Jeremy Horn and won the match through sheer aggression.
© 2008, MMA Spark!. All rights reserved.
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