The Iceman gets cold-cocked by Rampage!

If you believe the UFC hype-machine, you probably already know that Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time, has one-punch KO power, is a living legend, has a PhD in astrophysics, can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and has tears that can cure cancer.

OK, I made the last three up, but I’m sure Mike Goldberg will mention at least one of them on the next pay-per-view event.

But for all the years of hype, all the build-up, and all the mainstream marketing efforts, it came unraveled in just two minutes. On May 26 2007, Quentin ‘Rampage’ Jackson, a relatively unknown fighter to American audiences, destroyed Liddell, and became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

If Dana White had any hair left, he would have been ripping it out.

Now the UFC runs into a number of problems with promoting their golden boy…

Problem #1: You can’t give him a rematch. He already lost to Rampage in 2003, and this time he didn’t just lose – he looked like a fool in the process.

The cold, dominant stare we’re used to seeing from the Iceman was replaced with a look of concern and fear. Backpedaling for the entire fight, at one point Rampage actually stopped, opened his arms wide and cocked his head to the side with a frustrated look on his face, as if to say “I thought we were here to fight?”

Then shortly thereafter, with one swift hook, Liddell was on the canvas with his arms limp and lifeless, unable to defend himself.

0-2 against Rampage, it’s unlikely we’ll see a third fight any time soon.

Problem #2: You can’t keep feeding him opponents he’s comfortable against. As every MMA commentator says ad nauseam, “Styles make fights” – and Liddell is clearly comfortable against a certain style: grapplers with questionable striking ability…especially fighters he already defeated.

Check out his record by clicking here – in 2006 Liddell defeated three people, all grapplers, all of whom he had already beaten.

With the arrival of 205-pound fighters with far more striking ability, such as Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Michael Bisping and even Dan Henderson, you can’t continue to pad Liddell’s record by giving him what he wants.

And if he starts fighting against guys in their prime, who can actually strike…we might be seeing Chuck on his back on a far more regular basis.

Problem #3: He’s no spring chicken. At 37 years of age, Chuck ain’t getting any younger.

With the prospect of facing younger, more well-rounded competition and no title rematch on the horizon, where does UFC go from here? Spend the next couple years letting Chuck beat up on sub-par competition, and then give him a title shot when he’s nearly 40?

Or throwing Liddell into the Octagon against real competition, and risk him getting KOed two, or even three consecutive times and permanently destroy his credibility?

In five years I believe Liddell will leave a legacy similar to Ken Shamrock and Don Frye – a broken down shell of his former self, exiting his career on a series of losses because he doesn’t know when to hang up his gloves and admit that his best years are behind him.