Could We See Chuck Liddell Make A Return To MMA?

By Muk

Well this is something I did not ever expect to be writing about in the year 2017, a Chuck Liddell comeback, but here we are. Chuck Liddell, who turned 47 in December, turned heads last week when he posted a picture to Instagram, dressed in his signature "Iceman" get up, looking shredded and in as good of shape as ever, and it sparked the conversation - could we potentially see "The Iceman" make a comeback?

Liddell's long-time coach and trainer, John Hackleman said this week that a comeback isn't something we should be holding our breathe for, but it is a possibility, all depending on who the opponent would be. At 47 years old, that is the biggest aspect surrounding Liddell's potential comeback, who he would fight, because as we know, age is one of an athlete's biggest opponents in combat sports. 

Chuck Liddell is one of the biggest stars in UFC history, and was a force to be reckoned with at 205-pounds, and produced some of the greatest fights and knockouts in UFC and MMA history. But unfortunately we saw that wear and tear, and those slugfest fights finally begin to catch up to "The Iceman" when he dropped five of his final six fights in the UFC, four of which came via KO. 

At this stage in his life, and career, it would be foolish for Liddell to comeback unless it was a fight that put a ton of money in his pocket, and was against someone who wouldn't rattle his brain as it has been so many times before. Liddell has a brand to protect at this point, as he has turned his success in the Octagon into success in pop-culture, appearing in movies and TV shows, usually as himself, and another big Knockout loss at this point in his life would only hurt that stock. 

While I would love to see Chuck Liddell come back and fight, I doubt he will, and I also doubt it would ever be with the UFC, it would likely be with Bellator or some other lower level organization, and would have to be against someone who wouldn't give him a real tough time in the cage. Liddell has been somewhat vocal in retirement, criticizing fighters and their fighting style, including Jon Jones, stating that not only would he have beaten Jones during his prime, but also today, which is a flat out joke. Jones would have beaten Liddell 10 years ago, and would put him in a casket today, so I don't think Liddell has really thought all of his words through. 

Nevertheless, Liddell is a Hall-of-Famer, an absolute legend, and one of the greatest fighters to ever put the gloves on, and while I would love to see a vintage elbow-Knockout from Liddell, I would be very upset if he came back and was KO'ed once again.