4. Chuck Liddell
Another difficult man to slot, with several respondents ranking him as the second best light heavyweight of all time, others ranking him around the middle of the Top 10, and one—me—placing him as low as eighth. It always seemed very clear to me that Liddell's reputation in the early 2000s was a product of close friend and former manager Dana White throwing the weight of the UFC hype machine behind him, and a pitifully weak division when compared to Pride Fighting Championships. Back in the early 2000s, I didn't think Liddell had much chance against Pride's best and I was mostly validated in that assertion. Liddell was finished by Jackson in Pride, and was actually being thoroughly dominated by Guy Mezger in the striking for the first 10 minutes of their match before, like all Lion's Den fighters, Mezger gassed, which I've previously written about. Then, when Pride’s fighters were making their way to the UFC, Liddell was a big favorite in the rematch against Jackson, thanks to all that hype. I made a small fortune that night when Jackson knocked out Liddell in the first, and even more when “Shogun” Rua was inexplicably roughly even money against Liddell, only to knock him out quickly and easily as well. Liddell's sole win over that period was a close decision against a very washed-up Wanderlei Silva, a bout even I expected him to triumph in.
But let's give Liddell some credit. The UFC light heavyweight division might have been weaker than its Japanese counterpart, and Liddell won a robbery of a decision against the much smaller Murilo Bustamante, but he did knock out Tito Ortiz twice, Renato Sobral twice, Randy Couture twice, Kevin Randleman, and won a decision over Vitor Belfort, even if it was much closer than the scores and commentary indicated. He was certainly great in the UFC.
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