UFC president Dana White once bagged $5,000 as Chuck Liddell beat up hotel security guard

It’s no secret that Dana White and Chuck Liddell enjoy a great relationship which extends far beyond their work since the Manchester-born chief used to manage the Iceman’s career. After White’s school friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta bought the UFC in 2001, he was made the promotion's president. The two went on to sell the company for $4.2 billion in 2016, which Dana White still looks after.

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Dana White Chuck Liddell bet: When Dana White won $5,000

When UFC was in its early days, they promoted the brand by doing tours all over the US. It was on one these tours that the UFC president made $5,000 by betting on his long-time friend and then UFC fighter Chuck Liddell. In his autobiography, ‘Iceman', the Hall of Famer revealed that while “pushing” UFC in one of the states where it was barely known, Dana White, Chuck Liddell and others stayed at a “fancy place” where no one knew who they were.  

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He recalled that one night, Dana White started talking to a hotel security guard who questioned the UFC supremo about Chuck Liddell who was sporting a mohawk and a Japanese tattoo on his head. When Dana White told the guard at Liddell was a UFC fighter, the guard responded with: "This is all cr*p. None of that stuff is real." That’s when Dana White fixed a fight between the Iceman and the security guard, who used to wrestle at school.

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Chuck Liddell claimed that all the hotel staff surrounded the lobby at 2 in the morning and started making bets among themselves. As soon as Dana clapped his hands, the fight started and within two minutes, Liddell put the guard into a neck crank, winning $5,000 for White. The Iceman states that after the win, he, White and the others went to grab some cannoli to celebrate. Chuck Liddell revealed that the next day, Dana White met the guard and gave him some money as he was in a lot of pain.

“Before the guard could make a real move, I put him in a neck crank that was so fierce he started yelling, ‘I can’t see, I can’t see,’” Chuck Liddell added.

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Image Source: Chuck Liddell Instagram, AP