The Heart of a Champion

I saw this photo of Chuck Liddell a few days ago signing Rich Frankin’s cast and I was immediately impressed. Not that I needed another reason to be impressed with Liddell, but after seeing the respect he has for the sport, the fans and the other fighters, he was moved him to a whole new level of admiration.

While Liddell’s age may be catching up to him and his fire may be slowly burning out, he has carried the torch for MMA fans all over the world for many years. He has been an ambassador of this sport and helped show a lot of critics that MMA is not a brutal blood sport. In my opinion, he ranks up there with elite athletes like George Forman and Brett Favre, athletes who have preserved and shown all of us what is means to have a true heart of a champion.

When Forman came out of retirement and started fighting again, many people thought it was a stunt. Not a lot of people took him seriously when he said his goal was to be heavyweight champion again. But Foreman never let other’s doubt stand in his way. He even beat a legitimate champion, Michael Moore, to become heavyweight title holder once again. Forman kept moving forward until he got what he wanted.

Love him or hate him (I’m on the hating him side), there is no denying that Favre is one of the toughest players to ever step onto a football field. By the numbers, he is too old, too slow and throws way too many interceptions for any team to consider him a franchise player anymore. But like Foreman, he does not let any of that stand in his way. His pure love for the game and intense competitive nature drives him to work hard in the off season and keep coming back every year.

Liddell is the champion we all want to see in MMA. He helped lay the foundation for the great fighters of today. He is already a legend in this sport and has many more fights left in him. He shares the fierce competitive fire with Forman and Favre. He is still a force in MMA, despite the beating he took from Franklin. As he gets older, more people will call for his retirement and start writing about how he is past his prime and it’s time for him to move on. If the careers of Foreman and Favre have taught us anything it’s that a true champion will never listen to the critics and idiot blog writers out there and will instead go out on their own terms.

~Tip

Tippy is the Heavy Hands blogger and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .