The End of an Era

Chuck Lidell first stepped into the Octagon on May 15th 1998 at UFC 17. He fought between the UFC and other organizations, with his first finish actually coming by way of a rear naked choke. After his win against Jeff Monson at UFC 29 Chuck never fought outside the UFC, aside from representing the organization in the Pride FC tournament. 21 wins with 13 KOs later, Chuck Lidell grudgingly resigned to the fact that his run in MMA was over following his loss to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 97. Ironically, his first and last UFC events were both titled "Redemption", bookends for an 11 year career that certainly did not need to be redeemed.

The Iceman was at his prime at a time when the UFC needed a public figure to herald the sport into the mainstream. With his rockstar appearance and lifestyle to quiet confidence, Chuck became a superstar as people tuned in to watch the Iceman take out his next victim. After losing to Quinton Jackson in Pride, Lidell went on a 7 fight streak that lasted two years, knocking out every single opponent that entered the cage with him. Fans everywhere couldn't help but pity his next opponents as second on the round timer seemed to countdown towards an inevitable conclusion, that left hook or right hand would find its mark and send the recipient crashing to the canvas.

Then in May '07, the highly anticipated rematch against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson came to a halt barely 2 minutes into the first round, courtesy of a Rampage counter punch to a low left hook by Chuck. His comback fight against Keith Jardine also did not go as planned, as Chuck lost a split decision. Then at UFC 79, a fight of the year candidate battle against long time rival Wanderlei Silva put Chuck back in spotlight. The three round war saw Chuck win a decision, dominating the action from start to finish with little lulls in action as the two swung for the fences for 15 minutes. It seemed like Chuck was on his way back to the top as he faced off against the younger Rashad Evans. The first round saw Chuck impose his will and land aggressive shots but the second round did not go the same. Pursuing his opponent against the cage, the younger and quicker Rashad landed a devastating right hook that put the Iceman out cold, putting the arena and viewers at home in stunned silence. Chuck eventually left the cage under his own power but the retirement talk had already started to buzz. The fight at UFC 97 against Shogun became a make or break effort to stay in the game. Unfortunately, powerful leg kicks and a left hand ended the bout decisively, and Chuck went down again.

At nearly 40 years of age, there is no shame in retirement from a sport, especially a sport that you not only built up into a mainstream obsession, but dominated for two years. Chuck "The Iceman" Lidell sat atop Mixed Martial Arts as a living legend, selling out arenas and selling shows on the power in his hands and fight anyone, anywhere and anytime attitude. A true fighter and warrior who lived for the competition, Chuck Lidell will always be a legend in the sport.