Scott Coker Does Lunch With Retired UFC Champ

Scott Coker continues to make major moves on behalf of Bellator MMA.

Per a report from MMA Junkie, Coker and former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell had lunch in Los Angeles, however, a return to the cage wasn’t what the pair were discussing. Apparently, the meeting between the two was to discuss a potential brand ambassador role for Liddell with Bellator.

This might come as a surprise to some mixed martial arts (MMA) fans, as “The Iceman” has been teasing a return to fighting lately. Liddell’s coach, John Hackleman, recently did an interview and stated that Liddell’s return would have to be for the right opponent:

“Just like when they first wanted him to quit, and he wanted to keep fighting, everybody was thinking I was trying to push him to keep fighting, which isn’t true. But like I always said, it’s whatever is in his heart. 3 million bucks? Who is gonna tell someone, ‘No. I’m not gonna allow you to make $3 million, which is more than most people make in three lifetimes.’ It would all depend upon – this sounds so bad. Seriously, the people who know me know what a terrible mother hen I am when it comes to matching my fighters, but it would depend on the match. It would all depend on the match. I’m not gonna name who I would let him fight – well, it’s not up to me to let him fight or not – but who I would okay and who I wouldn’t.”

Contrary to his coach’s comments, Liddell recently told TMZ that a return would not depend on who is standing across from him in the Octagon:

I don’t know, I’m not really a betting man,” Liddell said. “We’ll see. I’m retired right now so we’ll see.

“No, my decision wouldn’t depend on that (the opponent).”

In an older interview, Liddell also commented on a potential superfight with Jon Jones where he said that he believes he could’ve beat “Bones” in his prime. In fact, “Iceman” thinks he can even beat him right now:

“Of course I would beat him in my prime,” said Liddell. “I’ll beat him right now. If you got a problem let’s go. I’m not going to get mad at him if he says he can beat me in his prime, he should say that. If I’m your coach, you better say that.”

“We were at the UFC and he came up and said, ‘What’s up, man?’,” added Liddell. “I said, ‘Look man. If you’re going to talk trash about me on the Internet, you might want to tag me so I can respond, instead of talking trash behind my back.’ Trust me, if I have a problem with you, you won’t have to look for me.”