Chuck Liddell's appearance on David Letterman was more than a year ago, shortly after Liddell's second loss to Rampage Jackson, but I just came across it and thought it was worth posting:
"I watch the Ultimate Fighting and it frightens me," Letterman said, "because I think of all the time I'm in traffic and I say something unpleasant to somebody in the car next to me and it might be a guy like you. But if I were to mouth off to you, you would know better than to kill me, right?"
Liddell assured Letterman that he didn't need to worry.
Overall, I think that appearance is the kind of thing that MMA needs more of. Liddell makes the point that MMA is safer than boxing and that he was hurt more as a college wrestler than he was as a pro MMA fighter, and he comes across like a nice, easygoing guy who can laugh when Letterman (and Amy Sedaris) pokes fun at him.
At that point, even coming off a loss, Liddell was the face of UFC. I think UFC is in better shape now than it was then, even though it no longer has any one fighter who promotes the sport the way Liddell does.
