UFC legend Chuck Liddell recently assessed how a fight with Jon Jones would have gone when both men were in their light heavyweight primes.
āThe Icemanā was a key figure in the UFCās growth in the early noughties. Liddell won the UFC light heavyweight championship with a first-round knockout of Randy Couture at UFC 52 back in April 2005. His celebrated reign on top of the 205-pound division included another win over Couture and a successful defense against longtime nemesis Tito Ortiz.
Jon Jones, meanwhile, is widely regarded as the greatest light heavyweight fighter in MMA history. A two-time champ in the weight class, āBonesā carved his way through a whole generation of 205-pound greats, including Quinton āRampageā Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Daniel Cormier, and Glover Teixeira.
āI Win By Knockoutā - Liddell Confident Of How Heād Have Fared Against Jones In His Prime
During an exclusive interview with MMA News, āThe Icemanā was asked how he believes a fight wouldāve gone between him and Jones if they were both at their peaks.
Liddell was quick to assert that he wouldāve landed the knockout on Jones.
The retired MMA veteran noted Jonesā knack for controlling the pace of his fights, before suggesting that āBonesā wouldāve been unable to do so against him.
āI win by knockout, if you ask me,ā Liddell said. āI mean, that would be a fun fight. I mean, for me, the thing that Jon does really well is dictate where the fight is fought, like, if heās better than you on the ground, heāll take you down, or if heās better than you at ground-and-pound, you know, thatās itā¦ Heās been able to control where a lot of these fights have been fought. He wouldnāt have been able to do that with meā¦ He wouldnāt have been able to take me down.ā
Being honest, I canāt think of any time in Jonesā career where a prime Chuck Liddell could win. Heās got too good of a chin, better wrestling, much longer reach, and deadlier eyepokes.
We know, Chocolate Al, you can still throw a football over those mountains 
Chuck Liddell has amongst the best TDD in mma history. I donāt think JBJ would have his way with him
He dominated rampage and shogun and made them look like amateur fighters making their pro debuts. And those two beat chuck unfortunately. But styles make fights. JBJ was would not take down chuck with ease and hold him down
What if Chuck could have his aviators on?
Jones would take him down, but wouldnāt need to.
Prime JBJ outwrestled Cormier. He would take Chuck down if he wanted too.
I think DC and JBJ both handle Chuck.
I would have loved to see Chuck vs Hendo.
I had saw an interview that Hendo trained with Randy for 3-4 years and usually got the better of Randy in practice (not easily handled just did better than 50%).
Prime DC probably KOās Chuck. DC became a very good boxer and had a very good chin.
Jones forced his will in a lot of fights by being allowed to lead/poke with his fingers. Who wants to move into a garden rake.
I canāt believe he was allowed to get away with that shit for so long.?.
It makes me wonder how hard the opponents trainers bitched pre-fight to the referee/commission.
If I was a trainer, I would have had my fighter walk to the cage with these on and make the referee tell him multiple times to take them
off. All while I bitched to the referee about the eye poking. Would have brought some additional attention and got Rogan and company talking.
If I were to create a fighter to beat prime-Jones, it would be a combination of prime-Liddell and prime-Couture.
TRT Vitor damn near beat prime Jon.
Chuck always thought he wins the fight by knockout. That what makes him great. If looking at common opponents, Jones handled Rampage. Rampage claims going into the Jones fight he was at his all time best. The two fights between Rampage and Liddell were pretty one sided from my memory. As someone mentioned Vitor almost caught Jones, but then Jones finished Vitor. The Chuck and Vitor fight was pretty competitive. Have not watched any of these fights in years. Might be time to check them out again.