Seriously pm me if you make more and I miss the thread update.
http://www.mykawartha.com/community-story/3695194-abigail-s-picture-goes-big/
RIP "The Iceman" and long live "Chocolate Al"
Mixed martial arts fighter Chuck Liddell has a new internet nickname thanks to a drawing penciled by seven-year-old Queen Mary student Abigail Russell. Abigail documented meeting the former UFC champ in her school journal after meeting him at a seminar held at Crestwood Secondary School this past summer. Her misspelling of his name into "Chocolate Al" (say it out loud and it's clearer) became an internet meme when Abigail's father Mike, an MMA and UFC journalist, posted his daughter's picture of Liddell on popular martial arts message boards that are frequented by industry insiders and fighters.
"It got like 40,000 or 50,000 hits. It became one of the top threads of that month," he explains.
Her sketch created such a buzz online that an idea formulated to make "Chocolate Al" shirts to sell as a fundraiser to aid UFC fighter Dan Miller, whose two-year-old son Danny Jr. was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease and has been on dialysis since birth. When asked if it would be okay to use her drawing for the fundraiser, Abigail had this to say.
"Yes. Imagine if it was Isabella (her three-year old sister) who was sick."
Several websites, including Yahoo! Sports, promoted the fundraiser and as a result close to 500 shirts bearing Abigail's artwork, raised $7,500 to help offset Danny Jr.'s medical costs.
"She kind of has a bond to the family even though she has never met them," explains Russell, noting that Abigail wants to be an artist when she's older.
"I have kids of my own and I can't image what they are going through," he adds.
Orders for the shirts have come from all over the world, including Thailand, Australia, the UK, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Denmark, France, the U.S. and Canada. Many UFC fighters have also purchased the shirts.
Russell only expected to sell around 100 shirts, but is now planning to order another 500 because of its early success. He should have no problem selling those as Liddell has offered to model for photos in a shirt and to sign a handful of them for the Daniel Miller Foundation, to auction off.
They will also be sending UFC president Dana White a shirt this week and are hopeful that he will wear it in his next video blog. To make donations the to Daniel James Miller Foundation visit http://danieljamesmillerfoundation.wordpress.com/meet-danny/