John Hackleman:
“You can’t make someone quit, but definitely when I looked down at him in the cage, my stomach … it just didn’t feel good.”
“I don’t think there’s too much to talk about. I think we both know what he’s going to do. I won’t speak for him like Dana [White] did. I’ll just say I’d rather he not do it anymore.”
“If he’s gotta do it I’d rather be there looking after him than someone else. I don’t think it will come to that. I think he’s good right now. I think he’s in a good place and obviously wishes he won. But he’s a very successful guy that’s accomplished a lot in and out of the cage, and he doesn’t really need this anymore in any way. I don’t think he has anything to prove.”
“The thing that made him the most famous, richest, most exciting superstar in the sport also can come back and haunt him. All the game planning went out the window and the warrior in him took over. He dropped his hands, took his chin up and started swinging for the fences. That’s the way he went in and that’s the way he went out. That’s just him.”
“Looking down at him cut like that, broke my heart.”
Coach John Hackleman shares his thoughts after seeing his longtime friend and student Chuck Liddell (21-8) get knocked out at UFC 115 last weekend by Rich Franklin (28-5). Liddell has lost five of his last six fights and was knocked out in four of them.
Hackelman says if Liddell feels he has to fight again, he will be right there beside him. However, he does not think it will come to that as “The Iceman” has already achieved so much.
UFC President Dana White said following UFC 115 that Liddell will not fight again. Liddell himself still has not made a statement regarding his retirement.