Joe Rogan has broken the ice on ‘The Iceman’.
Reminiscing about the early days of MMA, there was one fighter in particular that really stood out to the UFC commentator. That was former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell.
Liddell had quite the legendary run in the UFC in which he began his career back in 1998. Fighting mostly in the Octagon (but sometimes outside of it), Liddell boasted wins over the likes of Kevin Randleman, Vitor Belfort, Alistair Overeem, Tito Ortiz before capturing UFC gold against rival Randy Couture in 2006.
Rogan: Chuck Liddell ‘Made The UFC’
While the name may be a blast from the past, Rogan remembers Liddell’s heyday like it was yesterday.
“Chuck Liddell in his prime was a fucking monster,” Rogan said on his podcast. “Because he could take it. He could take a shot in the chin so good that he would just f*cking wade forward, almost daring you to hit him and just fucking roar! And then when he would win, he would roar! It was crazy, man.
“He made the UFC,” Rogan said of Liddell. “In 2005, when the UFC became popular, it was popular because of the big final between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin. And ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ made the UFC. Everybody watched it on TV. They’re like, ‘what is this? This is wild’. But then you got to see the champion. You got to see Chuck Liddell when he was a f*cking beast.”
‘People Forget He Was A F*cking Monster’
Rogan continued his praise of ‘The Iceman’, who was a forced to be reckoned with back then. Liddell had seven TKO finishes and one submission (out of 13 career wins) on his resume, with all of those never leaving the opening round.
“He was hunting people,” Rogan continued. “And he was a wrestler that never wrestled. He never uses wrestling in the octagon other than to get up. He just wanted to f*ck you up, you know?. And trained by John Hackleman who is old school, just old school… He was like the originator of all these crazy workouts with wheelbarrows and sh*t.
“Freaking Chuck Liddell, man. People forget he was a f*cking monster because he was a big, tall, light heavyweight. He was a huge guy. Crazy power. And you couldn’t take him down. His wrestling was incredible.”
Watch Joe Rogan reminisce about Chuck Liddell and other pioneers below.
