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How good was Chuck Liddell in his prime? And how popular was he?

Davidjacksonjones

Davidjacksonjones

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-21 wins, 9 losses
-Former UFC LHW champion with 4 title defenses
-Wins over Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Jeremy Horn
-Sold over 5.8 million PPV over 13 fights
-2003 Pride FC Middleweight Grand Prix semi-finalist

Is he in your top 20? Which other fighters would you put on his level? in terms of skill? and fame?
He seemed to be one of the guys who brought MMA to the maintream. Also, what happened after 2007? He only won once in a decade towards the end of his career

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was pretty good till he went over to Pride and got shut down by Rampage Jackson

people really didnt know bout that fight because it wasnt on any of the UFC tapes available

then once you started digging around on the net and stumbled across the record breakdown and actual footage
 
He was probably the most famous MMA fighter in America for a few years.

Chuck was definitely good enough to hang with PRIDE's MW division. KO's over Overeem, Mezger, Couture, Babalu, Randleman, Ortiz are good wins. He also beat Wanderlei in the fight we all wanted to see, even if it was a few years late.
 
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Rank Squatter said:
was pretty good till he went over to Pride and got shut down by Rampage Jackson

people really didnt know bout that fight because it wasnt on any of the UFC tapes available

then once you started digging around on the net and stumbled across the record breakdown and actual footage
Click to expand...
Didn't he go to the UFC after Pride and still did pretty well, with the UFC belt + multiple defenses too
 
Rank Squatter said:
was pretty good till he went over to Pride and got shut down by Rampage Jackson

people really didnt know bout that fight because it wasnt on any of the UFC tapes available

then once you started digging around on the net and stumbled across the record breakdown and actual footage
Click to expand...

Yeah because Chuck was all natty against evil Rampage :rolleyes:

First time that I see that shitty excuse lol.

For your question TS, Chuck was very popular back in the day and was the face of the UFC during early to late 2000. Lot of peoples hated Rampage for what he has done to Chuck, too.
 
He was massively popular, he was the perfect fighter and personality for the crowd that the UFC was marketing itself to, dude was a legit rockstar
Its also that same rockstar lifestyle that probably caused him to lose a bit off the tail end of his prime
 
The Iceman had that Alex Pereira kind of hype behind him. He was the UFC’s boogieman. He put on many great no-nonsense sprawl and brawl performances. Entertaining striker with great TDD. Kept things standing and kept things banging. The man had pistons where shoulders should be. He also had a granite chin and abs once upon a time. The mohawk and handlebar moustache made him the certified BMF belt holder before there was a BMF belt.
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Chuck was an elite fighter back in the day who could compete with the best lhw's of the era. Keep in mind this was one of the deepest divisions back then. I dont think he was the best of the era tho as he mainly fought in the ufc while the best where over in Pride. As you mentioned he lost when he fought rampage in de middleweight GP.

Eventually father time and all the partying caught up with him and thats when his chin got cracked and he started to lose. Should have retired earlier imo.

I personally would rank him somewhere around the top 10 best lhw's of all time.
 
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He was a monster and was wildly popular. At that time we didn't really know who the best LHW in the world was. Rampage probably always beat Chuck, Wand had Page's number, and Chuck probably always beats Wand. Weird stylistic triangle. Also Randy was in the mix and I'd take him over Wand and Page but probably not Chuck. Then there were guys like Arona and Tito who were a problem for anyone on the right night, and once Shogun came on the scene he looked like he could beat any of them.
 
A in terms of MMA he was overrated and dependent on fighting wrestlers. Vitor in 02s really the only war he won.

B as an icon he was bigger than any MMA figure pre Conor McGregor. He was the poster boy for late 2000s MMA.
 
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