Chuck Liddell is a retired mixed martial arts fighter and a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet inside his home in Los Angeles, CA to talk about his legendary UFC career, his podcast called “Icebreakers” with comedian Adam Ray, his fights with Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Kevin Randleman, and others, what it feels like to knock someone out and how it feels when you get knocked out, the career path he was on if he didn’t become a fighter and much more!

On when he became Chuck:

“That’s actually funny. I didn’t like the name Chuck I fought it for years. My family called me Charlie. In high school I had buddies who were like ‘Is Chuck here?’ when they called my house. My grandma was like ‘No, there’s no Chuck here.’ Then would go ‘Oh is Charlie there?’ The name was not allowed. Eventually I just got used to it. Now I just go by Chuck. My family still calls me Charlie though. If I used to hear someone yell Charlie, I just keep going. But for the most part people call me Chuck now.”

On potentially having a “real” job:

“Yeah I went to school for accounting. I have a degree in accounting. Honestly I started kickboxing when I finished wrestling and I finished school. I decided I really want to do this and I had a lot of fun but I wasn’t making a lot of money. Around 1997 I went to my trainer. I said I was having a great time and I love fighting but my family is giving me a lot of pressure to get a real job. My grandma wants to brag me up to a big firm. If I didn’t start making money soon I have to get a real job. The trainer said it is hard to make real money kickboxing. After that I got a call and I got asked to do a mixed fight. It was an open hand striking fight in Vegas. I ended up kicking the guy in the head and knocking him out. They then asked me to try UFC. I got onto UFC 17 and the rest is history.”

On when his MMA career took off:

“I think what really lunched things was when I knocked out Kevin Randleman and Guy Mezger in the span of 3 weeks. I knocked out Randleman in a minute 18 seconds. Then I went to Pride 3 weeks later and knocked out Mezger. That was a couple of fights where I got nervous in the car because he didn’t move at the time.”

On knocking someone out in a fight:

“You can see it. When they sleep like that, you’re like I hope he’s OK. My job is to try and hurt you within the rules. But as soon as it’s over I hope you are alright. You can see in guys eyes when they are really hurt though. I saw Randleman after the Mezger knockout and he was like damn you hit good man.”

On what it’s like being knocked out:

“I got knocked out in the Rich Franklin fight I took a shot from a headbutt. I don’t remember anything else after that. If I hadn’t headbutted him I think it would have been over. When I went into survival mode I just went after him. if I hadn’t done that I would have just kept kicking him in that arm [which was broken]. After that all I remember was being in the locker room. I remember waking up in the ring a bit but it wasn’t until I was in the locker room did I figure out what happened.”

On possible post-MMA injuries that he has:

“Not that I know of. I guess I wouldn’t know. I did go to Colombia to do stem cells, I did both my shoulders and amazing results. They also did one for my brain and CTE. I’ve been doing some stuff with brain training. I had a brain performance test and I do have a lot of being stuck in fight or flight, things are firing all the time. But they have a training method to help with that. I’ve had 16 sessions and at 20 it should be back to normal.”

On any current physical injuries he has:

“I had a partial knee replacement a while. I also had to have my neck fused. It was sliding and tapping into my spine so I had to fuse it. If I closed my eyes I couldn’t balance. But now that is back to normal and it doesn’t hurt. But my knee felt 2 weeks after the surgery better than it ever did years before.”

His prediction on the upcoming Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier fight:

“I’m expecting Conor to come in and have made some adjustments. He is a very smart martial artist and I think he will have made some adjustments. We will see what happens. Poirier is tough, he has showed it. But he has to be careful around Conor. But Conor is not ready for the leg kick game, you’ve got to be careful to not get caught.”

On a potential fight vs. Jake/Logan Paul:

“I don’t mind messing around and joking around, but I am too big for the kid. It makes no sense for them to fight me. Even if his camp thought he would beat me, they would be worried the whole time. The guys he has trained with know me, I can still hit as hard as I ever have. Even if he could beat me 7 out of 10 times, if he makes a mistake then it’s over. They are moving him along slowly like they should though. In the old days the wrestlers used to go straight to the top and get thrown to the wolves. If you just jump right in, you will get caught.”

On if he is still training:

“Not as much as I used to but I still lift and I still hit the bag. I still try to get into wrestling but I haven’t done a lot lately. I can’t help the kids wrestle yet because they aren’t big enough. But I can’t wait until they are.”

On his new podcast:

“It’s fun, I’m having a really good time with it. I love talking to people, I’m getting used to being on the other side of it and asking questions. I think I could have pulled out a few more stories that I already knew but people would have loved to hear. But I am getting more used to it and it will get better. I’m having fun and I’ve got to that stage where if I don’t want to do something I don’t have to.”

On his new goals:

“That was the big struggle after retiring. I loved doing the guest appearances and I am trying to get more serious movie appearances. I enjoy it and trying to act. But I loved the cameos, especially Entourage. It’s my favourite show and I asked everyone I knew to get onto it. It was the last show I made a point to watch every week.”

On what he is grateful for:

“My kids, for all the people that have helped me get where I am and that I am here to help people.”

Chuck Liddell can be found on Instagram here and Twitter here.

Featured image: Bleacher Report