Chuck Liddell recalls 'frustrating the hell' out of dominant UFC heavyweight champion in sparring
Yesterday at 08:22 AM
Chuck Liddell has been reminiscing about sharing the mat with former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.
'The Iceman' became an MMA legend thanks to his sprawl-and-brawl style that made him a nightmare for wrestlers and a favorite with fans of the sport.
Cain Velasquez was known for his relentless grappling. It got him signed by the UFC after just two fights, but it was of no use when he came up against Chuck Liddell.
In 2008, they shared a few sparring sessions when Liddell was coming toward the end of his career, and Velasquez was still finding his feet in MMA's premier promotion.
Chuck Liddell recalls sparring Cain Velasquez
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold recently explained the nightmarish time he had sparring Velasquez and expressed his preference to train with Daniel Cormier during an appearance on the Jaxxon podcast.
Liddell also appeared on the show. The 55-year-old shocked everyone in the room by revealing that his training sessions with Velasquez went much differently.
However, the UFC Hall of Famer did admit that he sparred with the man widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time when he was just another prospect.
“I've trained with him a couple of times," Liddell revealed.
"When we sparred, I frustrated the hell out of him.
"He couldn't take me down. He couldn't take me down.
"I mean, he was 4-0 at the time, he'd just kind of come to the sport.
"I never got to do it once he got to where he got.
"He was the man! He was tough."
Chuck Liddell backs himself to beat Jon Jones
Jon Jones is the greatest MMA fighter of all time, but he's another man who apparently found it very tough to go toe-to-toe with Liddell in the gym.
'Bones' is virtually unbeaten during his career, with the lone loss on his record coming courtesy of a highly controversial disqualification defeat in 2009.
Since then, he's dominated at light heavyweight for a decade and stepped up to a division to test himself against MMA's big men.
Jones beat Ciryl Gane in March 2023 to become the UFC heavyweight champion before defending his belt by knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 last month and setting up a unification clash with interim titleholder Tom Aspinall.
Liddell believes he could've been the man to beat Jones, who he's sure wouldn't have been able to take him down if they had met inside the Octagon.
"I would've been a bad matchup for him," Liddell said in October.
"I'm probably one of the few guys where he'd have a hard time dictating where I fought him. He would've had to fight me standing up, he couldn't outwrestle me, he couldn't take me down.
"Jon Jones, no, he couldn't take me down, he would've had to strike with me."