Dana White pleads with Chuck Liddell not to fight again

UFC president Dana White praised UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell as an incredible person and a great friend, but is pleading with him to never fight again.

Liddell is now 49-years-old and suffered a brutal KO to Tito Ortiz last year in Golden Boy MMA’s first show. It was the seventh KO loss in Liddell’s legendary career. Despite the loss, however, Liddell is reportedly keeping the door open to fighting once again.

Speaking to TMZ, White raved about the kind of person Liddell is, but also begged him to never fight again.

“Chuck Liddell is one of the greatest people you could ever meet. He’s a good person, he’s a good guy,” White said. “He’s a guy that you become friends with and you’re friends with that guy for the rest of your life. He’s that guy, he takes care of the people who are around him.

“All the people that were around him at the beginning of his career are still around him now and still friends with him. He’s a good person. When you meet Chuck Liddell, when you get to know Chuck Liddell, you love Chuck Liddell. He’s one of the best human beings you can ever meet, he’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever worked with in the fight game. I love him, I respect him. The crazy thing is, all the reasons we love Chuck Liddell are the same reasons he wants to fight. To his core he’s a fighter, it’s what he loves to do, (but) that third fight should have never happened.”

Despite the brutal KO loss to Ortiz just last November, Liddell has not fully committed to retiring for a second time. White doesn’t want to see it happen and would be upset to see an athletic commission sanction another fight for Liddell.

“Listen, Chuck is a very, very smart guy, okay? I’ve said it many, many times. Tito, not very smart, not an intelligent guy,” White said. “He’s just not. I’m not being mean, I’m not being rude. The worst thing about Tito is he’s one of those guys who think he’s smart, but he’s not. And those are the most dangerous type of guys, okay? Chuck is actually a smart guy. I tried to talk both of them out of this Oscar De La Hoya fight. I told them that this De La Hoya thing is bad. Chuck, I tried to talk out of a fight period. Chuck Liddell is 50-years-old and should not be fighting. And he’s a grown man and can do whatever he wants to do, but let me tell you what. The commission who sanctions that fight… wow.”

Do you agree with Dana White about Chuck Liddell never fighting again?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/4/2019.