The Weekly Wrap: Aug. 15 - Aug. 21

Iceman to Dance With The Stars

In what could be the highest-profile celebrity appearance to date for an MMA fighter in the United States, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will participate on the next season of ABC's “Dancing With The Stars,” which premieres Sept. 21. The series, which pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers in a competition, is one of the highest-rated on all of television, drawing 22.5 million viewers for the last season premiere in March, an audience some 10 times larger than for any of Liddell's fights.

The show has propelled several fading celebrities back into mainstream notoriety, and will almost certainly up Liddell's profile in pop culture. How that will benefit the UFC is unclear, considering UFC President Dana White considers Liddell, 39, to be retired from fighting. Liddell will be the third fighter to participate on the show; boxers Evander Holyfield and Floyd Mayweather had short runs on the program. Liddell will join the likes of NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, disgraced former congressman Tom Delay and Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne on the show's season nine cast.

The show had long been recruiting Liddell, but training camps always interfered. Liddell told UFC.com he's doing the show in part to "show what kind of people we do have in this sport." He will be paired with amber-haired Anna Trebunskaya, a ballroom dancer from Russia, according to Entertainment Tonight.