By Bryan Levick 
Chuck Liddell has accomplished as much if not more in mixed martial arts than just about anyone else has during the history of the sport.
A world champion, Liddell was one of the first fighters to break into the mainstream when he landed a role on HBO’s hit series Entourage.
As he enters his 40’s, Liddell should be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor. UFC President Dana White has spoken about the amount of money Liddell has made on more than a few occasions.
Liddell proved during the last installment of ABC’s hit show Dancing with the Stars, that his popularity is as high as ever.
His run on the show went on a lot longer than anyone could have predicted.
White has been very adamant about wanting Liddell to retire and avoid any serious and unnecessary injuries.
So when Liddell wanted to fight again, White agreed, even though it went against everything he had said since Liddell’s last knockout loss back in April to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
The Iceman along with Tito Ortiz were named as opposing coaches on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter and will fight in a third fight that is completely unwarranted after the season ends.
If White thinks that it will be one and done for Liddell, he has another thing coming.
In an interview conducted with MMA Junkie during Monday’s TUF 11 media day, Liddell laid out a four fight plan that in his mind will allow him one more run at the light heavyweight championship.
The entire interview is a good read, chock full of great quotes from a man who has done the majority of his talking with his fists.
Liddell starts off almost by contradicting himself by saying he had nothing to prove but that he would like to prove White wrong.
The fighter inside Liddell says he can still be competitive, it also allows him to believe that things could have gone much differently in his bout with Evans and the events that took place afterwards.
Maybe he is right, another inch or two and he might have tagged Evans and earned a shot against then UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.
The fact remains he suffered one of the most brutal knockouts at UFC 88 and just eight months later was once again put on the seat of his pants by Rua.
In a career marked by highlight reel knockouts it is hard to see Liddell be part of someone else’s career defining moments.
The subject of Randy Couture came up and it is hard to argue with Liddell, he sees Couture who is six years his senior take a year off and come back and win the heavyweight championship.
Liddell believes the time off and the fact that he hasn’t allowed any shots to his head during training will go along way towards him reclaiming the title he so desires.
When he speaks of Ortiz, Liddell says that getting motivated to punch Ortiz in the mouth gets him through the long, hard days of training.
As much as I love Liddell and respect what he has done for the sport and more specifically the UFC, the best thing that could happen to him is to lose to Ortiz.
As he he said early on in the interview, he has nothing to prove, he has done it all.
There aren’t many times that the fans agree with White but this should be one of them.
