Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell is a former UFC light heavyweight champion. He accumulated a 21-9 record over his 30 fight professional career. Liddell defended his light heavyweight title 4 times witch includes his second fight with Tito Ortiz. Just recently, Liddell made his return to the cage after eight years off to again fight Ortiz. As the record stands today, Liddell is 2-1 against Ortiz in his career. The rivalry became so intriguing that ESPN just recently made a “30 for 30” on their rivalry. MMASucka recently spoke with Liddell to get his personal opinion on cannabis in the sport of MMA.
Chuck Liddell on the Benefits of Cannabis
When asked if he ever used cannabis during his MMA career, Chuck Liddell revealed that he did not because he was not aware of the benefits of cannabis and CBD at the time. Liddell states that now that he understands how much it helps inflammation and pain relief, he uses CBD. Liddell revealed that the reason he started to use CBD oil is because his wife used to have back problems. She started to take CBD oil and he watched how quickly and effectively it helped her and decided to look into it.
Performance Enhancer?
When Liddell was asked if he felt cannabis was a performance enhancer, or if he felt like cannabis was something that could possibly hurt your performance, The Iceman replied, “What I used it for is recovery, for the fact that it keeps inflammation down so in my opinion, yes it is considered a performance enhancer.” He said he does not have a problem with fighters using cannabis to help with their anxiety. Liddell says he never looked at anxiety as a problem before a fight but if it helps other fighters, more power to them.
Cannabis Vs. Steroids
Liddell also gave his opinion the Nick Diaz suspension situation. As you may remember, Diaz fought Anderson Silva on January 31st, 2015. Silva was caught by USADA shortly after his fight for having methyltestosterone in his system. He received a one year suspension. Diaz also popped for having cannabis in his system and was given a 5 year suspension. When asked if this suspension was justified, Liddell gave a two part answer saying he doesn’t feel like cannabis should be taken more seriously than steroids. Then on the other hand he feels like Diaz was kind of poking the bear in a way. This was Diaz’s third failed drug test for marijuana at the time. Liddell says he feels like the “guys on the other side” (USADA) were kind of pissed off that Diaz kept trying his luck and being defiant. Liddell felt that this was a way USADA felt like they could get back at Diaz
The interview with Chuck Liddell in its entirety can be found below.
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