Chuck Liddell wants to see fighters going after finishes: 'I don't like playing safe'

Chuck Liddell may be retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s changed his philosophy on the fight game.

“The Iceman” said his favorite fighters to watch now that he’s been away from competition for more than three and a half years are the ones who go for the kill – the same way he did over a career that featured plenty of highlight-reel finishes.

And Liddell wonders if that’s the case for many of today’s fighters – which is why he hears people wondering if things just aren’t the same now as when he was around.

“You’re always going to have people comparing, but what it comes down to is, fighting is fighting,” Liddell told MMAjunkie Radio.

One of his proteges, Glover Teixeira, will fight light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for the title in April – a belt Liddell was a longtime holder of. Naturally, Teixeira ranks pretty high on Liddell’s list of favorite fighters to watch.

“Glover’s one of my favorites, but that has a personal thing to it. I like watching Anderson (Silva) fight, and I like watching (Johny) Hendricks fight. I like (Jose) Aldo – he’s a slick striker and he goes after it. I just really like guys who try to finish fights, whether you’re a ground-and-pound guy, if you’re a slick jiu-jitsu guy.”

When Liddell won, he often did so spectacularly. And when he lost, which came five times in his final six fights, he went out on his shield with four knockout setbacks.

“I can’t really speak for (other guys), but guys need to be themselves – be a fighter,” Liddell said. “Worrying about winning and losing, I don’t like playing safe. I never did. It still worked out for me. I guess it’s a different time. I understand both sides – I understand playing it safe, and from a coaching standpoint.

“But at some point, I like to watch guys try to finish fights. That’s what makes it entertaining for me.”

Liddell said he misses being around the sport, but that no particular big event UFC pay-per-view makes him any more nostalgic than another.

He said the little things about preparing for a fighter the ones he thinks about now.

“Fight week was always fun. The hard work had been done,” he said. “It was just relaxing, hanging out with my friends and getting ready to go out and fight. I miss going in every day, talking before training and after training, hanging out, grabbing lunch – it was all a fun part of the game. Training’s the hard part. The fight’s the reward. If you don’t enjoy training and working out and doing the rest of it, that’s a rough life.”

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