'Dancing' does a Liddell body good; White happy to fork over $10k

Yahoo! Sports

Mon Sep 14 08:15am EDT

'Dancing' does a Liddell body good; White happy to fork over $10k

Looks like UFC legend turned "Dancing With the Stars" participant Chuck Liddell is going to be $10,000 richer on Tuesday.

After noticing that Liddell's weight had ballooned to an estimated 230-250 pounds at UFC 100 in July (left), UFC president Dana White bet Liddell 10 large that he couldn't slim down to 214 pounds by September 15. On Sunday, Liddell tweeted that he has reached the goal, claiming that his dance training is burning 4,500 calories per day.

When informed that he was losing his bet, White said he was happy for his good friend.

"It's good to see the 'Iceberg' go away and see the Iceman back," White told Cagewriter. "He was [expletive] huge. He was lying about his weight (232), he was enormous. ... It's good to see something that got him motivated again. He's been fired up and training hard for 'Dancing With The Stars' ... I'm happy for him. He can take the ten thousand I threw him and buy a bunch of satin shirts for his new job."

Liddell told TV Guide that he's been getting a lot of ribbing for his new side gig, which has motivated him to show people that he is nimble on his feet:

"They bust my chops for everything! All my friends think it's funny. But they better freakin' watch! [The show pursued me] in the past, but I would've had to take time off from fighting and I didn't want to do that. Now I'm still debating whether to retire or not and I'm taking time off, so I have time to do it before I start training for a fight again."

The 40-year-old Liddell has been the biggest name in the UFC since 2003 and should bring a nice crossover audience of 18- to 34-year-old males to DWTS. Liddell has been struggling in the octagon, losing four of his last five fights, but he'll be trying to avoid a first-round knockout on national television when the show debuts on September 21.

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