Ah, the good old days.
Two of the most storied fighters in the history of the UFC got together this weekend and put the gloves back on like old times. Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture did some light wrestling sparring at Jay Glazer’s Unbreakable gym in West Hollywood and it was gloriously captured on video (h/t Fancy Combat). “The Iceman” looked like he still had that trademark takedown defense. Sylvester Stallone was even in the house.
The rivalry between Liddell and Couture, which was always more friendly than heated, was one of the things that put the UFC on the map in the mid-to-late aughts.
Couture, now 53 years old, won the first fight of the series by third-round TKO at UFC 43 in 2003 to win the interim UFC light heavyweight title. Liddell, now 47, evened the score by first-round knockout at UFC 52 in 2005 to win the belt. And Liddell capped the trilogy with a second-round knockout to retain the title at UFC 57 in 2006. That last bout cemented both as huge superstars. At the time, the estimated 400,000 pay-per-view buys was the most ever in UFC history.
Liddell has not fought since 2010, while Couture wrapped his legendary career a year later in 2011.
While both are certainly getting up there in age, it looks like the two superstars can still throw down a little bit. At least against someone their own age.
Maybe Vitor Belfort is onto something with that legends division idea.