Interview with Chuck Liddell

Steve Alley, Martial Arts Radio. And we have with us today Chuck “ The Iceman” Liddell. The UFC 35 now concluded and Chuck Liddell victorious in a great…. great match of all stand up! That’s right never before have we seen a match quite like it here (At Martial Arts Radio) but it happened at UFC 35. It may not happen again. Chuck it is great to have you here with us! Thank You for taking time out of your schedule to be with us here at Martial Arts Radio. How do you feel?

Chuck Liddell: I feel good. I am relaxing here on the east coast visiting with relatives.

MAR: What did you know about your component (Amar Suloev) going into the fight (at UFC 35) and tell us how you handled that particular fighter. It seemed like there was a real tactitioner fighting in the “Octagon” in Chuck Liddell.

Chuck Liddell: I saw a couple of his fights. I didn’t see a whole lot because it was tough to get a lot of footage on him. He looked like he was a solid striker. He liked to stand up and strike and had some decent ground-not a lot of take down defense. He had a couple of good throws…I worked on that stuff, a lot of sparring and stand up. I expected that I could come out and do stand up and try and use my reach advantage and stand “outside” and bang on him awhile. I expected to see him come at me hard…he didn’t come at me as much as I thought he would. He liked to land that “one shot”. I saw a lot of that in his fights. Him trying to set up that one big kick or punch.

MAR: Could you walk us through what you did to prepare for this fight as far as physical training. Like maybe on a daily basis or what you did for an entire week to train for this specific fight?

Chuck Liddell: This time I got my old trainers back. I wanted to try and concentrate because it seemed everyone gave me a hard time about my conditioning for my last fight (Murillo Bustamonte UFC 33) and it was more that I wasn’t feeling good than my straight conditioning. So I wanted to make sure I was in shape so there was no way there would be any complaint about that. About eight weeks out from the fight I did some strength conditioning, which I did two days a week for the first two weeks. That was with my lifting coach. My other coach was John Hackleman. I trained with them for up to four days a week right up until two weeks of the fight.

MAR: Did you plan on the “stand up” for the entire fight? Did you do anything to prepare for the fact that he would try and take you down or was it really your intent to stay standing up for the entire fight?

Chuck Liddell: My plan was to stay up for the whole fight unless he really tried to take me down or made a mistake. I worked out with CAL-POLY with the wrestling team. I was ready. Then I worked on my sparring. I tried to work on everything but I concentrated on my stand up fighting.

MAR: Your leg kicks were extremely “fresh”. They were as good as any I had seen. I recalled the bout some years back the UFC bout between Paul Varlans and Bas Ruten where he (Varlans) literally got knocked out by leg kicks but yours seemed fresh and heavy hitting and by the end of the fight it looked like your opponent (Suloev) would really have difficulty walking on that leg the next day. Did you go into a lot of detail with the leg kicks and train for power kicking or do you do that in the normal course of your training?

Chuck Liddell: I normally do “Thai” training with power kicks but John stressed power this time. Doing a lot of hard leg kicks and working on power hooks…working my power to use strength to over power him.

MAR: What is on the agenda for you now (After UFC 35)? Do you have some other fights lined up for the future? Will you be right back in the UFC sometime soon as you and others sign contracts to fight in the UFC? What is on the agenda in the future for Chuck Liddell?

Chuck Liddell: We are still talking about it. I told them I would talk when I returned home. I want to fight the top guy for the title in my weight class. I want that title fight in the UFC between Tito and Vitor (Belfort who ever wins that fight.)

MAR: That would be a good match between you and either one of them. Another question in regard to your training and your skill in “Muay Thai”. You are aware that the K-1 recently opened different weight classes and it now will be open to other divisions where before it was exclusive only to heavyweights. Have you been courted by the K-1 in anyway. Have they made contact with you to inquire if you would be available to fight in their tournament in the future?

Chuck Liddell: Not now. But I have been asked before to fight in the K-1.

MAR: And you did not except due to your contract with the UFC? Some other reason you didn’t take the offer?

Chuck Liddell: For me it was because at the time all they had was a heavyweight class I was fighting under 200 pounds. The money they offered was about the same as what the UFC offered. And for me to train legitimately to train to fight in a kick boxing match I want to train as a kick boxer. I have to take time out of my NHB training so for me to do that to get back into the K-1 type stuff that I would need… they would have to make it worth my while to have to make it worth my while to have me take away from my training for the UFC. I prefer the mixed martial arts over straight kickboxing.

MAR: You have a school in California where you workout and you are the principal? Tell us about that and where people interested in training can find you.

Chuck Liddell: It is in San Louis Obispo, California which is the central coast about half way between san Francisco and Los Angeles. Anyone that would like to contact us can at www.slokickboxing.com or our phone number is 805-549-8800. The S L O stands for San Louis Obispo.

MAR: We look for great things from you in the future and I am sure it has been a “long haul” for you. Did you travel from the west coast to the east coast have any adverse effects on you? I had heard that many of those that stayed at the hotel where fighters stayed of some sort of “bug” and were sick?

Chuck Liddell: Yes. It seemed like just about everybody got sick. My brother got sick. My girlfriend was out and she got sick. A couple of many friends came out to see me and they got sick. I stayed in my room most of the time and came out to train and I was fine.

MAR: Were you fatigued in any way. It looked like you were in great shape for your fight from the start…and all the way to finish.

Chuck Liddell: I was fine. I could have gone another three rounds. I actually felt like I was getting stronger the last part of the fight. I was in great shape. I attribute it to the sparring I was doing. John Hackleman really facilitated that for me. Making sure everyone showed up. For awhile people were falling off a little bit so I wasn’t getting a lot of sparring and guys like Eric showed up injured or not. That rotating we were doing, the seven-minute rounds and rotating guys every minute or two really helped. We did that for 30 to 35 minutes. So you get to the fight and it made it easier.

MAR: You made it look easy! One last question. Towards the end of the fight you threw a jumping overhand punch at Suloev. Is that something you have done much of in the past or did you actually plan it?

Chuck Liddell: I use it every once in awhile if I can land it. I do it in sparring a lot messing around. Especially if the guy I am sparring with gets tired of getting hit with leg kicks. Then I will fake the leg kicks and throw that punch. There’s not a lot of power on it but it does score. Then I can usually follow with a left hook. In the fight he was to far out of range for the left hook so I just let it go.

MAR: It was a great fight Chuck. I hope many of the kick boxing aficionados and people that watch it closely and love the kickboxing aspect of mixed martial arts can really appreciate not only now but in the future – what they saw at UFC 35 in your fight. We appreciate the time you have taken to be here with us at Martial Arts Radio. We wish you the best in the future.

Chuck Liddell: Thank You