I went into Nottingham again recently to collect a kettlebell (I don’t like having the heavier ones delivered because it’s a tedious process). While I was there, I stopped by a couple of second-hand bookshops to see whether there was anything worth picking up.
Walking into a tiny little store in the Victoria Centre, my eye was immediately caught by the MILO publishing mark on the spine of a small volume in the autobiography section. Grabbing it, I found myself the new proud owner of Chuck Liddell’s autobiography, “Iceman” (affiliate links: UK
One scary dude
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Why on earth did you read that, then?
Well, I like to read as widely as possible and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is something I know very little (if anything) about. It’s also a topic that has cropped up recently, with:
- Diesel Crew detailing specific MMA conditioning programmes;
- Mike Boyle and Charlie Weingroff chipping in on the subject in the context of whether MMA conditioning is appropriate for the NFL;
- MMA being at the centre of the lumbar flexion debate; and
- The Canadian Medical Association seeking a ban on the sport because “the aim is to disable and maim your opponent” and because “we should not tolerate this so-called sport in a civilized society.”
So it’s safe to say this is a topical issue in the strength and conditioning world at the moment.
That being said, although I felt it would be good to get up to speed with MMA, I did enjoy reading it and it’s a much better read than you might expect. It’s well divided into lots of small chapters, which makes dipping in and out quite easy, and it has a good sense of flow through from start to finish.
It starts with Chuck’s early life but concentrates on the skills he learned. His later life is dominated by accounts of his fights, although there is some discussion of his family and friendships.
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OK, so who is Chuck Liddell, anyway?
Chuck Liddell is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight (i.e. under 205lbs) champion. He started Koei-Kan karate at the age of 12 years old and competed nationally at the age of 14, taking second place.
Koei-Kan karate seems to have been a perfect training ground for the aspiring UFC fighter, because it makes frequent use of sparring with armour protection (which allows the practitioner to strike an opponent with full contact without fear of serious injury) and body transfer, which incorporates dodging, evasion, footwork, rolling, and breakfalls.
In high school, Chuck gravitated unsurprisingly towards wrestling and, afterwards, began kick-boxing as the only obvious way to continue fighting competitively (this was before the birth of the UFC). Later on, he met John Hackleman, who introduced him to the Hawaiian brand of Kenpo, Kaju Kenbo.
Kaju Kenbo uses hard, fast strikes to vital points throughout the body, take-downs involving high impact throws, and joint and limb destruction techniques, usually as follow-ups to take-downs. Looking at this history of exposure to varying different schools of martial art, it’s easy to see how Chuck became well-programmed to be a great UFC fighter, particularly one who was reknowned for his striking.
Unsurprisingly, Chuck gravitated towards MMA in the UFC and was incredibly successful. But what is the UFC anyway?
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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
The story of the birth of the UFC is very much like the story of the birth of the triathlon only much, much cooler. The birth of the triathlon apparently came about during an argument between a swimmer, a runner and a cyclist about who was “fittest”. The triathlon was their attempt to settle the argument.
The UFC finds it origins in the desire of the Gracie family to prove that their brand of Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ) was the dominant fighting art on the planet. In 1993, this was put to the test when a variety of fighters from boxing, kickboxing, sumo, savate and BJJ all gathered to fight. The BJJ-practioner won. This was UFC 1.
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Chuck’s fighting history
I’m not going to go into the details of all Chuck’s fights here but suffice it to say that his accounts are detailed without being boring and exciting without being melodramatic.
There is confidence without bravado and analysis without paralysis. His respect for opponents is palpable, especially where they are talented and skilled, like Randy Couture. In fact, his accounts reminded me a lot of the Wrecking Machine.
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Let Chuck speak for himself
This is one of those books that translates quite well into soundbites. Possibly because of the media from which it draws much of its material. And, as Vincent DelMonte might say, “Success leaves its own clues”. So here are some great quotes from the book to give you an idea of the sort of person you have to be in order to be a winner.
- “If you’re going to be good at anything, you’ve got to be willing to learn as much about it as possible”.
- “The bigger and more painful the physical challenge, the more I want to do it. Or at least prove to someone that I can.”
- “Honestly, I can live with losing if I deserve it. And I deserved to lose that fight (against Randy Couture).”
- “When I lose, it’s as if I’m caffeinated 24/7. All I want to do is get back in the cage and fight.”
I guess that’s all there is to say.
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