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#3 Chuck Liddell
One of the most popular MMA fighters of all time, Chuck Liddell became a UFC legend in 2005 when he knocked out Randy Couture to claim the Light-Heavyweight title, and subsequently held the gold for two years, making 4 successful defenses in the process. Unfortunately, ‘The Iceman’ was already 36 years old when his reign began, and when he was unseated by Quinton Jackson in 2007, his downfall was swift.
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After losing his title, Liddell went 1-3 in his next 4 fights, and after suffering a nasty KO at the hands of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, UFC President Dana White persuaded ‘The Iceman’ to retire for the good of his own health.
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Just over a year later, though, Liddell was back; able to convince White of his health, he was handed a coaching slot alongside longtime rival Tito Ortiz on the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter, with the two pegged to face off for a third time afterwards. Unfortunately, fate intervened and Ortiz was forced out of the fight with a neck injury – leaving ‘The Iceman’ to take on former UFC Middleweight champion Rich Franklin instead.
In what was a tremendous fight, Liddell came at Franklin like his old, aggressive self, taking the fight to him and even breaking his arm with a kick midway through the first round. But with seconds to go in the opening stanza, his durability once again betrayed him; Franklin caught him with a short right hand to the jaw, and ‘The Iceman’ crumpled. That was the end of his comeback – and he headed back into retirement.
What happened next?
Liddell remained retired for the best part of a decade; the UFC’s parent company Zuffa gave him an office job to keep him occupied, but when the Fertitta brothers sold out to WME-IMG in 2016, the new owners made some cuts and ‘The Iceman’ found himself unemployed. Sadly, that was enough to trigger another comeback – and he was knocked out by Tito Ortiz in their eventual fight in 2018 under the Golden Boy MMA banner. Liddell has not fought since.
