The landscape of MMA today looks much different than it did during the years when Chuck Liddell was in his prime as UFC light heavyweight champion.
In Liddell’s heyday during the early to mid aughts, the MMA world was fractured and the best talent was spread out across a myriad of promotions, with Pride Fighting Championships and the UFC standing as the two biggest players. That parity slowly evaporated over time, kick-started by the downfall of Pride, and eventually led to where the sport stands now, with the UFC owning an overwhelming percentage of the world’s top talent and Bellator MMA operating merely as a distant second.