Believe it or not, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that UFC legend Chuck Liddell may come out of retirement for a fight at 47 years of age.
Liddell’s recent posts on Instagram suggest he could be back in training, and while that may just be for his own personal enjoyment, his long-time coach and friend John Hackleman has also now hinted that ‘The Iceman’ may be willing to step back into the cage.
“Just like when they first wanted him to quit and he wanted to keep fighting, everybody was thinking I was trying to push him to keep fighting, which isn’t true,” Hackleman said on ‘The Anik And Florian’ podcast this week. “But like I always said, it’s whatever is in his heart. 3 million bucks? Who is gonna tell someone, ‘No. I’m not gonna allow you to make $3 million, which is more than most people make in three lifetimes.’
“It would all depend upon – this sounds so bad. Seriously, the people who know me know what a terrible mother hen I am when it comes to matching my fighters, but it would depend on the match. It would all depend on the match. I’m not gonna name who I would let him fight – well, it’s not up to me to let him fight or not – but who I would okay and who I wouldn’t.”
“But even $3 million, I don’t think that would be enough to put his life at risk and his legacy at risk. Because his legacy, not only for his own self-esteem but his legacy for his future earnings as well, could be worth a hell of a lot more than $3 million and tarnishing it to a certain degree, that might not be worth it. So it would all depend on the opponent.”
It’s been seven years since Liddell last fought, suffering his third KO loss in a row against Rich Franklin at UFC 115 in June of 210.
Lidell had been resisting calls to retire prior to that, but afterwards acknowledged that his chin was no longer what it once was and agreed to hang up his gloves.
UFC president Dana White smoothed his transition into retirement by offering him a lucrative job with the company, and that appeared to be that, but that welcome source of income was nixed when WME-IMG took the reigns at the UFC last year, and that could be the reason he’s now looking to compete again.
It’s highly unlikely he’d be stepping back into the Octagon this time around however as his close friend Dana White was one of the people who was most adamant that he needed to retire in the first place.
Instead, Bellator seems like the most obvious fit for Liddell as they have become known for bringing back old-school legends like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz to headline shows.
