This is what I’ve been doing since I was three years old and Pops taught me how to punch. It’s why I took up karate and played football and wrestled and had more interest in beating the crap out of people during high school than in getting drunk. There was no such thing as the UFC when I was growing up. I couldn’t possibly have known what was in store for me. But, it turns out, my entire life was geared toward becoming one of the best mixed martial artists alive. The street fighting, the grappling, the karate, those were all things that I’d become an expert at. Who knew that I could spend my entire life training in obscure disciplines such as those, and suddenly, combined, they would become one of the most popular professional sports in the world?
No one knew. Least of all me. But sometimes you just get lucky.
I don’t know what’s next, but here’s what I do know: I’m a born fighter and I love to fight. As long as I can throw a punch, I’m going to get in the ring.
APPENDIX
CHUCK LIDDELL’S MMA RECORD (20-5 AS OF SEPTEMBER 27, 2007)
UFC RULES
Fouls:
1. Butting with the head.
2. Eye gouging of any kind.
3. Biting.
4. Hair pulling.
5. Fishhooking.
6. Groin attacks of any kind.
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent.
8. Small-joint manipulation.
9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head.
10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow.
11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.
12. Clawing, pinching, or twisting the flesh.
13. Grabbing the clavicle.
14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
16. Stomping a grounded opponent.
17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel.
18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck.
19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area.
20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
21. Spitting at an opponent.
22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
23. Holding the ropes or the fence.
24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
25. Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
26. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
27. Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the period of unarmed combat.
28. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
29. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece, or faking an injury.
30. Interference by the corner.
31. Throwing in the towel during competition.
UFC MANDATORY EQUIPMENT (FROM UFC.COM)
1. Competitors may only use UFC and commission approved 4–6 oz gloves, designed to protect the hand but not large enough to improve the striking surface or weight of the punch.
2. Commission-approved MMA shorts and kickboxing trunks are the only uniforms allowed. Shirts, gis, and shoes, and the problems they present for grabbing, are not allowed.
MMA MAIN SUBMISSION HOLDS
1.Heel hook—Grab the heel and twist as hard as possible so the guy feels as if it were going to separate from his leg. In technical terms, you’re hyperrotating the heel. Submission that hyperrotates the ankle joint.
2.Toe hold—Same as the heel hook, only on the toe, which should feel as if it were being removed from the foot.
3.Armbars—From your back, place your legs across the opponent’s chest, with one of his arms between your thighs and with his elbow joint against your hips. Then grab his arm with both of yours, so his forearm is on your chest. Got it so far? To lock his arm, lean back and arch your hips at the same time. This creates intense pressure in the elbow joint. If the guy doesn’t tap, his options are torn ligaments, torn tendons, or a broken arm.
4.Triangles—Get your opponent’s head and one of his arms between your legs and squeeze. This will force his head down and choke off the blood supply to the brain.
5.Guillotine—This is almost too easy against grapplers. The move is executed when you are face-to-face with a guy. When he goes for a takedown, wrap his head inside your arm and squeeze hard. If the pressure from your forearm is placed against the windpipe, then you’ll get an air choke, meaning the guy can’t breathe. If the pressure is on the arteries of the neck, then you will get a blood choke, which means the blood stops flowing to his head. Either way, it’s lights out.
6.Rear-naked choke—This works when you’re behind your opponent. Wrap one arm around his neck, with the inside of your elbow against his throat. From there you lock the hand of the arm wrapped around the guy’s neck on your biceps and use your other hand to push the guy’s head down, closing off an airway. Don’t forget to hug your arms together and push out with your chest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ICAN’T REMEMBER EVERYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED TO me during my life. So I’ve got to thank all the people who helped me piece things together. First, as always, is my mom, Charlene Fisher. But no one would care what I have to say if not for the following people: Trista’s mom, Casey Noland; Cade’s mom, Lori Geyer; Nick Blomgren, who put me on the road to the UFC; Dana White, who helped guide my UFC career; John Hackleman and John Lewis, who are always in my corner; the guys I’ve trained with, Scott Adams, Antonio Banuelos, Scott Lighty, Ian Parkinson, Chuck Sandlin, Eric Schwartz, and Glover Texiera. I also need to thank the fans at Sherdog, whose stories provided great details of every fight written about in this book. And, of course, Erin Wilson, for supporting me during this project.
The book wouldn’t have come together without my manager at Untitled Entertainment, Brad Marks; my literary agent, Richard Abate at Endeavor; Brian Tart, the president and publisher at Dutton; and his staff, including Erika Imranyi and Jessica Horvath. Thanks to them for pushing me to share my story.
CHUCK LIDDELL first stepped into the Octagon in 1998 and became the UFC’s light heavyweight champion in 2005, a title he held for two years. An accounting major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he still lives and trains in the SLO. Check out his Web site at www.mmajacked.com.
CHAD MILLMAN, a deputy editor at ESPN the Magazine, is the author of The Detonators and The Odds and coauthor of Invincible and Pickup Artists. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two sons. Visit his Web site at www.chadmillman.com.
Iceman: My Fighting Life Page 24