When it comes to long-retired UFC fighters, there’s only a handful of former athletes who can claim to be as popular and well-respected as Chuck Liddell.
‘The Iceman’ won the UFC light heavyweight title in 2005 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame just four years later in 2009 – since then, he’s remained a keen student of the game.
In 2025, the UFC roster is populated by countless superstars and highly talented contenders, but which fighter is Chuck Liddell’s favorite to watch?
Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell names his favorite active UFC champion
Former UFC fighter Jake Shields recently welcomed Liddell onto his podcast to talk about everything from fighting in the streets as a teenager, to claiming world championship gold.
Towards the end of their conversation, which is well worth a listen-through in full, Shields asked whether Chuck Liddell had a particular preference for any of the active stars of the UFC.
“I like [Alex] Pereira. I really like him, man, he’s so relaxed, so calm – and he’s a good dude… I like his attitude, and I like how he fights. He’s a nice guy.
“But I like a lot of fighters, there are a lot of tough guys out there, and a lot of fun fights to watch.”
Liddell actually joined Alex Pereira in training camp for his UFC 287 showdown with Israel Adesanya and in a previous interview, revealed what he would do if he’d fought ‘Poatan’ in his prime.
“I’d wrestle him,” laughed the former champion, explaining in no uncertain terms “I mean if you [really] want to know, my strategy would be to take him down and we’d see what happened [from there] …
“I wouldn’t want to stand with him, I mean I’d try to land something, but I’d wrestle him a lot.”
That’s the same gameplan that fans are expecting from Alex Pereira’s next opponent, with his highly anticipated return to the octagon set for March 8.
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Alex Pereira’s next title fight takes place at UFC 313 in Las Vegas
‘Poatan’ returns to action in just a few weeks’ time; in the main event of UFC 313 against number one ranked light heavyweight contender, Magomed Ankalaev.
Despite Ankalaev being widely seen as his toughest test to date at 205lbs, Pereira remains a sizable favorite to retain his championship title on March 8 in Las Vegas.
Two weeks out, approximately 74% of Tapology Community Picks are going in favor of the Brazilian, the vast majority of which predict that ‘Poatan’ will win via KO/TKO.
However, there has been some concern that Pereira might not be taking this incoming title fight as seriously as he should, with Daniel Cormier wondering whether Pereira is fully focused on the task at hand.
“Don’t worry, Daniel Cormier, we’re over here working,” said Pereira in response, with later videos shared to his Instagram page showing the Brazilian training takedown defense with coach Glover Teixeira.
UFC 313: Pereira vs Ankalaev goes down live from the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, March 8.