2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
Home > Blogs > Mixed Martial Arts > Archives > 2009 > August > 17 > Entry
UFC fighter Chuck Liddell joins ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”
ABC today revealed the full cast for the upcoming ninth season of “Dancing with the Stars,” and for the first time in series history, a mixed-martial-arts fighter will be a contestant.
UFC hall-of-famer and former champion Chuck Liddell, perhaps the most popular and recognizable fighter in MMA history, is the trailblazer.
He’ll be the one with the Mohawk and head tattoos.
Liddell, though, isn’t the only athlete on this season of the show, which debuts Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Former NFL great Michael Irvin, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin and professional snowboarder Louie Vito have also been acast.
Liddell, who’s legendary title reign coincided with the UFC’s emergence as a mainstream sport a few years ago, last fought at UFC 97 in April, when he suffered his fourth loss in a five-fight span. UFC president Dana White announced after the fight that Liddell was entering retirement. (But Liddell and his trainer, John Hackleman, haven’t ruled out a return in 2010.)
Liddell said he had been approached by the show’s producers about joining the competition prior to past seasons.
“They asked a couple different times, but it would be too much time to take off from training for fights,” Liddell told UFC.com. “Now I don’t have any fights coming up and I’m not training, so it’s something to do.
“I’m going to go out, be myself and show what kind of people we do have in this sport. I’m sure the reaction will be mixed (among fight fans). My friends are going to be excited, and I’ll never hear the end of it because they’ll make fun of me, but it should be fun and I think everyone will like it.”
The rest of the season-nine cast includes singer Aaron Carter, “Iron Chef America” host Mark Dacascos, politician Tom DeLay, singer Macy Gray, actor Ashley Hamilton, actress Melissa Joan Hart, model Kathy Ireland, model Joanna Krupa, actress Debi Mazar, singer Mya, reality star Kelly Osbourne and entertainer Donny Osmond.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Chuck Liddell
Comments
By flipper
August 17, 2009 5:04 PM | Link to this
Chuck, No hitting below the belt. Dancing below the belt is OK. Len is going to love the head tatoos…..not.