By The Numbers: Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture Trilogy
Perhaps no two competitors have a stronger connection to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s rise to power than Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, two men who were inextricably linked by being at the right places at exactly the right times.
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As their exploits continue to fade into the past, a by-the-numbers look at the Liddell-Couture trilogy:
974: Days between the first and third
Liddell-Couture meetings. Couture stopped “The Iceman” with
third-round punches at UFC 43 in June 2003 before losing their two
follow-up encounters, succumbing to first-round punches from
Liddell at UFC 52 in April 2005 and doing the same to second-round
blows at UFC 57 in February 2006.
728,000: Pay-per-view buys for the three events headlined by Liddell-Couture. They increased from 49,000 for UFC 43 to 280,000 for UFC 52 to 400,000 for UFC 57.
14,562: Fans at the second confrontation between Liddell and Couture in the UFC 52 main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was the highest attendance figure of the trilogy and resulted in a $2,575,450 gate.
1,273: Seconds of fight time for the Liddell-Couture series. They faced one another inside the Octagon for a total of 21:13—the equivalent of a little more than four complete rounds.
149: Combined total strikes landed by Liddell and Couture in their three matches. Nearly half of those (68) were produced by their showdown under the UFC 43 marquee.
8: Significant strikes by which Couture outlanded “The Iceman” in their historic trilogy. He connected with 62 such strikes while absorbing 54 in return.
13: Significant leg strikes landed by Liddell across his three bouts with Couture, and he did so on 15 attempts—an 87% success rate.
2: Knockdowns credited to Liddell in the rivalry, with both leading to stoppages at UFC 52 and UFC 57.
5: Takedowns completed by Couture at the notoriously difficult-to-ground Liddell’s expense. He needed eight attempts to do so, giving him a takedown accuracy rate of 63% in their head-to-head matchups.
.471: Cumulative winning percentage between the two men following the completion of their trilogy. Couture compiled a 5-3 record, with wins over Tim Sylvia, Gabriel Gonzaga, Brandon Vera, Mark Coleman and James Toney. Liddell, meanwhile, went a disappointing 3-6, with victories over Renato Sobral, Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva.
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