UFC Hall of Fame adds Chuck Liddell

The teensy tiny UFC hall of fame is about to get a little bit bigger: superstar fighter Chuck Liddell and Tapout founder Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis will be inducted this weekend at the UFC Fan Expo. Liddell started his MMA career with the UFC, winning his debut fight against Noe Hernandez at UFC 17 in May of 1998. Five years later he had replaced Tito Ortiz as Dana White’s new best friend and the company’s ace fighter.

Chuck Liddell - Image: Zuma Press

While there was speculation that his induction into the Hall of Fame was another nudge by the UFC’s president to push Liddell into retirement, the Iceman told Sports Illustrated on Sunday that he will be taking a year off from fighting and sparring to ‘let his brain heal up.’ Considering his clubbing adventures almost sound rougher than his actual fights, this may or may not work out all that well for him.

Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis is best known for the two seasons of the TV show Tapout, but his contributions to the sport go back even further than Chuck’s. You can’t leave the house now without seeing someone wearing a Tapout shirt, but back in 1997 the business was run out of the back of a friend’s car. That didn’t stop Lewis from spreading his meager wealth around … There’s an endless list of fighters from back in the day who Tapout helped keep in the business via sponsorships. Mask died earlier this year in a car crash.

The induction ceremony will take place at the UFC Fan Expo on Friday July 10th at 6:30pm Vegas time. Chuck and Mask will be inductees number six and seven, joining Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, and Mark Coleman.