UFC's Chuck Liddell: Eddie Bravo Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks Versus Tito Ortiz

Fighters.com eighth-ranked light heavyweight “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-7) has started training jiu jitsu with Eddie Bravo of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. After winning the title in 2005 and defending it four times, Liddell has dropped four of his past five bouts, including back-to-back losses to fourth-ranked “Sugar” Rashad Evans (13-1-1) in 2008 and third-ranked “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-4) in 2009. I believe that this will help to elevate Chuck’s game and will help to right the losing skid he is been on as of late.

Chuck is coming back to fight yet again in the UFC. He will be the coach on The Ultimate Fighter 11 along with his long time rival “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz (15-7-1). This return fight many see as an easy fight for Chuck. It is one to get him back on his winning ways as he has already thoroughly beaten Tito twice in the past. That has not deterred Chuck from joining forces with Eddie Bravo in order to add what seems to be a new offensive weapon to his arsenal.

The internet is ablaze with talks about why Chuck would do this instead of getting a first class boxing coach since his three of his last four losses have come due to TKO or KO. Many have said that Chuck is past his prime and it is to late for him to become a more well rounded fighter. I feel it is never to late to evolve your game and Chuck is just the one to prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Tito knows that he can’t stand and trade with Chuck. He has tried and failed twice. With his ring rust dusted off and his back at 100% one would be crazy to think that he would stand and strike with him again. I believe we will see him try to take him down. Granted, Chuck may have the best sprawl in the business but anyone can be taken down given the right circumstances. Training with Eddie will give Chuck an offensive weapon on the ground if and it is a big if, Tito can keep him on the ground. Eddie is a master of the rubber guard and working submissions and sweeps from that position. Could we see Chuck use the rubber guard? Maybe we will see him hit a sweep from it and then work to submit Tito from top position. All of this adds a bit of intrigue to the comeback of the Iceman.

The biggest problem Chuck seems to be having is that many fighters have figured out his stand up style. They are waiting to counter when Chuck throws a wide punch. Let’s be clear here, Chuck was never the most technically sound striker. He used great footwork and fast hands to make up for that fact. It seems now that father time may be catching up with him. His strikes are not as fast as they once were and this is a problem. So what does training with Eddie do to correct this? It does not do anything to correct this problem.

This leads me to believe that just maybe Chuck has decided to use his wrestling background to become offensive rather than to just use it to keep the fight standing. The MMA world would come unglued if we saw Liddell actually take someone down and then work to pass into side control and then work for an arm triangle. All of this can come to fruition working at 10th Planet. Some of you may be screami9ng by now that Chuck already has a good jiu jitsu game having trained with John Lewis. While this is true Chuck has stated they focused more on submission defense and getting the fight to the feet.

Chuck is a man that was a division 1 wrestler. He learned the striking game, specifically the footwork. He used these and the defensive side of jiu jitsu to become the star that he is today. This shows me that Chuck has the ability to learn new techniques. Chuck is an old dog that can and will learn new tricks. I am sure the last thing Chuck wants to do is to come back and lose yet again thus giving him no other choice than to exit stage left. So here we see a man looking to improve his skill set in order to remain relevant in this sport. A man with a mission can be very dangerous,especially one with heavy hands and a submission arsenal that comes from Eddie Bravo. Please don’t think Chuck is not working to clean up his stand up. I am sure he and John Hackleman of The Pit are working to clean up his mistakes. Add to this the threat of a take down and an offensive submission game and his future opponents will be forced to worry about more than just his heavy hands.

We may be seeing the rise of a reborn fighter. A fighter who has learned some new tricks and will use it to keep his opponents guessing and in the process roll off a few wins. Say it with me “Chuck Liddell wins again by submission”