Liddell was offered a UFC ‘desk’ job after his last loss
One of the recurring themes of the lead-in to UFC 97 has been Dana White's comments about Chuck Liddell needing to "dazzle" him to continue fighting. Liddell has lost 3-of-4 fights and was knocked out cold his last time out against Rashad Evans. White told the Canadian Press:
"I’ve made it very clear to Chuck. Very clear. It’s not about money ... I’m not even saying if he wins, unless he looks incredibly impressive (in Montreal) - I mean, he’s going to have to go out there and dazzle me, for me to want Chuck to still fight. I love him, and I don’t want to see what I saw in his last fight ever again."
White told the media at the UFC 97 press conference that Neil Davidson and all subsequent coverage on the blogosphere blew those comments out of proportion. When Cage Writer spoke with Liddell yesterday he confirmed that White really meant business about the fighter stepping away from the cage. The former UFC light heavyweight champ said that he was offered a promotional job with the company in November:
"He said when he was my manager 'we set out to make you a lot of money, make you a world champion. We've done all that. What do you have left to prove?' And he was offering me a job for the UFC working on the other side of the promotion."
Watch Liddell tell Cage Writer what his answer was (3:25 mark):
Liddell immediately said that he wanted to keep fighting and that he thinks he's still very good job at his job. He believes that White will allow him to keep fighting in the UFC even if he believes Liddell should step aside. White is very loyal to Liddell and went as far as saying:
"Whether he's fighting or retired, he'll be with the UFC, 'til I'm dead."
That sets up an interesting quandary for Liddell. If he were to lose a few more fights or look unimpressive and White said that's it, what would he do? There's more than a few suitors out there who would pay a 42 or 43 year old Liddell a boatload of money to come fight for their promotion. It's easy for Liddell to say now that he'll hang it up when people around him say it's the right time, but what fighter in history has walked away from the game and the money at the right time?
Join Cage Writer for live for fight-by-fight updates for the entire card on Saturday night. Listen after UFC 97 is complete as Cofield and Ariel Helwani from Versus.com do the ESPNRadio1100 postfight show from the Bell Centre starting at 1:30 a.m. ET. You can listen here.
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