UFC Legend Chuck Liddell - Dancing with the Stars and the Feminine Side?
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
Sep 28, 2009
With his first week of "Dancing With the Stars" competition under his belt, Chuck Liddell tells us he's "just hoping to be a little more relaxed" on tonight's (9/28) installment of the popular ABC show. "I think each time, it gets a little easier," says the mixed martial arts legend and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, he says, "a lot of things that are hard for me are similar from dance to dance -- foot position, neck up, chin up, all that posture stuff."
UFC Legend Chuck Liddell - Dancing with the Stars and the Feminine Side? (Image: WENN)
So what's the inducement for Liddell, who's got to be the toughest guy in the room most places he goes -- a guy who has a karate tattoo on his scalp -- to want to trip the light fantastic in front of millions of people?
"I wanted to show we're not just a bunch of meatheads beating each other up. We can do other things. We're normal people. I'm a college graduate," he points out -- and not the "gentle Neanderthal" judge Bruno Tonioli dubbed him. Liddell seems to be taking it all in stride: "I'm having fun. Everyone's been great, and I'm actually learning how to dance. I've meant to do that for a long time but never got around to it."
After his first foray onto the dance floor, he was advised to show his feminine side, but Liddell says his dance partner, Anna Trebunskaya, said, "'I've been working with this guy for a month now, and there isn't a feminine side to him.'" He laughs. "That's her job. I'm not here for that. I'm here to show real men can dance, to prove that you can be masculine and go out there and have a good time."
Will the UFC Hall of Famer (whose potential retirement has been a matter of speculation for months) take any of his new skills into the ring?
"You know, maybe I'll come up with a better victory dance."
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