TUF Season 1 Coaches Reloaded: Chuck Liddell

I caught a good chunk of Spike's rerun of TUF Season 1 last weekend and it made me realize how fast and how far the sport of mixed martial arts has come since that first season reality series originally aired. Especially in the case of the two coaches of that original series.

This post will discuss Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell's road since that seminal first season. Liddell would go on after the TUF 1 Finale and beat Randy Couture and become the Light Heavyweight champ.

Flash forward to a fight with Quentin "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 71. By this time Chuck had defended his title 4 times and appeared to be as dominant a fighter as there had ever been in MMA. He stalked opponents waiting for the opportunity to catch them with a looping right and finish them off in a frenzied flurry of damaging violence.

Rampage surprised the MMA world when he knocked out Liddell in the first round. Chuck's next matchup at UFC 76 against "The Dean Of Mean" Keith Jardine found him losing a split decision.

He looked great in the long anticipated bout at UFC 79 against Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva where he got the hard fought decision win.

Then he gets knocked out in a big way in the most recent UFC 88 bout against "Sugar" Rashad Evans in the second round.

MMA stands still for no fighter. It is a quick ride, that is only recommended for the warrior that can focus on the game and continuously round out their game with a full arsenal of weapons and focus.

This past week found rumors of a Chuck Liddell vs. Anderson Silva fight, where Silva would move up to the light heavyweight 205 pound division.

Chuck has been the face of the UFC since the original season of TUF. He looks the part, acts the part, and also had been knocking dudes out.

I'm sure the next wave of up and coming fighters all want to fight Chuck since he is most likely someone they have watched since they began training for MMA competition. But Chuck should not allow this path to be travelled.

Evans proved that Chuck has become predictable in his fight plan and execution. Where Wanderlei (Silva) was happy to go toe to toe in a slugfest with Liddell, Rashad waited and baited Chuck through the first round and then took advantage of his unwillingness to protect himself and attempting to win matches with a single blow.

Chuck's future is squarely in his own hands. I don't think he's missing a step, I just think that the fight game has changed to true mixed skills combat, and Chuck has gravitated to a predictable and limited game plan.

Chuck can see a resurgence if he is willing to go back to mixing in a ground game with Jits, grappling, and dirty boxing.

If not, this Chuck fan fears that he will receive more defeats that make the end of his legacy appear as nothing else than a tomato can shadow of his former self that the UFC and other fighters alike use to gain access into the UFC and climb the ladder in the 205 Light Heavyweight class.