UFC 115 in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday night may have been the last time we get to see Chuck Lidell fight. The “Iceman“, as he is known, took on former Middleweight Champion Rich “Ace” Franklin in a light-heavyweight bout.
After A Distinguished MMA Career, It's Time For 'The Iceman' To Retire From MMA
The brutal 205 lb. contest saw just one round, but plenty of fireworks. Lidell came out firing and stumbled Franklin more than once. Franklin even suffered a broken arm, blocking a kick from Lidell.
But Lidell got carried away and rushed in on a weary Franklin, who in turn connected with a short right hand that ended the fight on the spot and gave Franklin another victory over a UFC Hall of Famer.
Once the most feared striker in the game, now reduced to a punching bag who gets the stuffing knocked out of it on a regular basis. Saturday night marked the 4th time in 6 fights that Chuck Lidell has been KO’d.
Dana White said before the fight, that if Lidell “went unconscious again, the two would come to the same conclusion: it’s time to hang it up!”
Certainly a fighter of the Iceman’s caliber doesn’t want to admit that they don’t have it anymore, but there are only so many times that you can turn the lights off, and maybe it isn’t such a good idea to test the switch when you are 40.
Chuck Lidell was scheduled to fight Tito Ortiz, a fighter that Lidell has owned in two previous fights, but Ortiz had to pull out of the fight due to injuries. Franklin stepped up and that spelled bad luck for Chuck.
Lidell, who is 21-8 and 16-7 in the UFC, seems to have fought for the last time inside the octagon, or at least it should be.
I would hate to see the reputation of the most dominate Light-Heavyweight champion in UFC history tarnished any more than it already has been.
We can’t all be Randy Couture after all.
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Frank Ellis hosts OFF THE BENCH on sportstalkCLEVELAND.com every Monday – Friday at 12 Noon Eastern.