Mandatory Credit: Photo by Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock (8488718gn) Randy Couture 'Kong: Skull Island' film premiere, Arrivals, Los Angeles, USA - 08 Mar 2017
Randy Couture on former rival Chuck Liddell considering bare-knuckle fighting: “I care about the guy…I hate to see him get punched in the head anymore”
UFC legend Randy Couture says that he does not want to see longtime rival Chuck Liddell make a comeback into bare-knuckle fighting.
Liddell and Couture were bitter rivals during their time in the UFC. Although Couture won the first fight against Liddell via TKO, Liddell knocked out Couture twice to win the trilogy. Of course, these fights came back in the early 2000s. It’s now 2021 and Couture has been retired from fighting for a decade, while Liddell has fought just once in the past 10 years, losing via knockout to Tito Ortiz in Golden Boy MMA in 2018. Despite Liddell being 51 years old now and coming off of four straight knockout losses, he recently said he would consider making a comeback in bare-knuckle fighting.
Speaking to MMA reporter James Lynch, Couture was asked if he thinks Liddell fighting again is a good idea. While “The Natural” said he would support what his former rival does, if it was up to Couture personally, he wouldn’t want to see “The Iceman” step back into the ring or cage again.
“I haven’t spoken to him about it. Obviously, the last fight coming back out after sitting out for as long as he did, to fight Tito, I thought that wasn’t a great idea. We knew he was talking about it, he came in, we did some training sessions together, we trained at Unbreakable to see if he could get himself back to what he thought was fight shape. There are a lot of questions there,” Couture said.
“I hate to see him, honestly, I hate to see him get punched in the head anymore. I think he’s a great guy, I care about the guy. He’s taken some punishment. Four of the last five weren’t very pretty, so I don’t think he needs it. But if that’s what’s in his heart, then I support him. If he feels like this is something he wants to do, obviously he does have that striking background and should do well with that style. So that’s how I feel about it. I’ve got his back either way. I just want him to be healthy and do what’s in his heart.”
Do you agree with Randy Couture that Chuck Liddell should not fight again?
