Liddell was a rising light heavyweight contender before the first fight. Couture moved down to light heavyweight after two consecutive losses against larger grapplers Josh Barnett, and Ricco Rodriguez, both with the heavyweight title at stake. Background īefore the first meeting between the two, Randy Couture fought at heavyweight and was heavyweight champion twice before the first match-up. At the third and final match-up Liddell once again won, making it 2–1 for himself, by KO at 1:28 in the second round. The second time, after The Ultimate Fighter 1, at UFC 52, Liddell won by knockout at 2:06 in the very first round. By this victory he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. All three fights have ended in knockout and have been for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.Īt the first meeting at UFC 43, Couture won by technical knockout at 2:40 in the third round.

All three fights took place under Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States.

Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell is a mixed martial arts trilogy.

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Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'Randy Couture vs. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. The knockout of Couture marked the beginning of Liddell’s dominant light heavyweight title reign, which lasted from 2005 to 2007 and included knockout victories over Couture (in their third meeting), Jeremy Horn, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Tito Ortiz.This article needs additional citations for verification. After he knocked Couture down, Liddell finished him off with punches at the 2:06 mark. A few seconds after the action resumed, Liddell caught Couture with a right hand to the chin while backpedaling against the cage. Rogan: “ single-handedly redefining the age limits that we associate with combat sports and athletics.”Īfter a competitive stand-up affair for the first two minutes in which both fighters landed solid punches, Liddell caught Couture with an inadvertent eye poke, which prompted a halt to the action. Rogan: “Phenomenal athlete, phenomenal competitor hell-bent on revenge.” Couture entered next.

“I’m going to be Light Heavyweight Champion,” Liddell said during the pre-fight lead-ins, to which Couture responded, “this fight’s going to end the same way it did last time.” Liddell, the challenger, entered the cage first.

Although some felt that Couture could again pull off the upset and grind Liddell out, The Iceman won the Light Heavyweight Championship in one of the best performances of his career. The rematch between the two champions was set up two years later following rival coaching positions on the inaugural season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Randy Couture pulled off an upset by defeating Chuck Liddell with a third-round stoppage in their UFC 43 bout from 2003.

Chuck liddell iceman