Iceman by Chuck Liddell

Author:Chuck Liddell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2008-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

TO LEAVE NO DOUBT, YOU’VE GOT TO KNOCK A GUY OUT

NEW CONTRACT, NEW CREDIBILITY, NEW CAR. MIDWAY through 2002 I was thirty-two years old and a legitimate pro fighter, making a living at what I did best, probably better than anyone else in the world. I felt that I was peaking, too. The Mezger fight just flowed and gave me a confidence I didn’t have before. I had always felt I could beat anyone in a fight, a knockdown, drag-out brawl. But I was feeling now that I could beat someone in a test of talent. The original intent of the UFC, of all the mixed martial arts competitions, was to find the most skilled fighters in the world, whether it was in wrestling, karate, boxing, jujitsu, or any other form of hand-to-hand combat. While some people thought the UFC had veered off the path and become nothing but a tough-man contest, it was viewed that way less and less now. And I knew I could compete. I was proving time and again in the cage that I was among that top tier of warriors.

Most athletes, when they reach their midthirties, start to show signs of slowing down. Their reflexes aren’t as quick, their timing suffers, their body takes longer to recover from training, let alone a game or a fight. Boxers especially find themselves in a steep decline. By that point in their careers they’ve probably been fighting for twenty years. Between sparring and actual matches, they’ve taken thousands of blows to the head. Whether they are punch-drunk or not, a lot of them can’t help but have lingering effects from all those shots. But we UFC fighters, despite all the controversy surrounding the brutality of mixed martial arts, seem to get stronger as we get older. For starters, we don’t take countless hits to the head. So many other disciplines are involved in our sport that we spend as much time grappling on the mat and trying to twist each other’s limbs as we do trying to knock each other’s brains out. A boxer probably takes more hits to the head in one round of a twelve-round fight than a UFC fighter will take in three rounds. Which means, despite some of my media appearances (more on that later), our heads are pretty clear as we get older and we can keep fighting longer.

I’m not trying to keep people from being boxing fans. I loved the sport when I was growing up. Guys like Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard were great to watch, but I think the sport has run itself into the ground. There are too many divisions, too many promoters more interested in making a buck than in making a good fight that will keep fans interested. One reason I think the UFC is doing so well is that lots of boxing fans are fed up with the way that sport is run—and the lack of exciting fighters—and are crossing over to watch MMA fights.

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