By Christopher Salute – June 20th, Las Vegas, Nevada- During the Spike TV Season Finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Team USA vs. Team UK at The Palms, U.F.C. President Dana White commented, again, on the retirement of Chuck Lidell. “I’m not his father, he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. I’m his friend and I care about him a lot, and I’d never like to see him fight again.”

This stance seems a little less definite then White’s UFC 97 proclamation that we would “never see Chuck Lidell on the canvas again.” This came after a knockout loss to Mauricio Rua. That loss, White said, needed to be a one-sided win for Lidell if he planned to fight again.

White isn’t being malicious when he aggressively stands between Lidell and the cage. If anyone understands Lidell, it’s him. Dana White started his career with the UFC as the manager of Tito Ortiz and Chuck Lidell. It was through these connections that he found out the organization was looking for buyers, which is what started his campaign to find investors, purchase, and become President of the organization. So, when White says that he cares about Lidell, we can believe that he genuinely does.

There would need to be a mutual understanding between White and Lidell if Lidell were ever to return to The Octagon. Seeing as though he is still under contract with the UFC, White does hold all of the cards. And, with Lidell’s loyalty to White and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, moving to a rival organization to fight doesn’t seem like a consideration. Lidell was introduced to the world through the UFC, grew with it, and has been the face of MMA through the UFC for almost a decade.

So, the question becomes, “Can we make an argument for Lidell to fight again in the UFC?” With only 7 losses in his career, 4 of them have come in less than 2 years. He’s only won 1 of his last 5 bouts. And, he’s been knocked out in 3 of those last 4 losses. Even switching his training methods with American Top Team and boxer Howard Davis Jr. hasn’t helped Lidell find a “W.”

Is it an age factor? Or perhaps the amount of fights that contributes to a fighter’s loss column? Advances in the sport? Perhaps the growing popularity of MMA has bred a larger pool of fighters, making it easier to find the best contenders for these MMA legends to compete against. It’s different for every fighter. Examining the career spans of other active fighters may give us a better clue as to what exactly is contributing to Lidell’s record.

Randy Couture, at 46 years old, has 16 wins and 9 losses with his fight against Nogueira coming up in August. While he has accumulated both wins and losses pretty steadily, since the 2nd year in his career, Couture has had a few gaps in between fights over the past few years due to contract disputes with the UFC. So, even though he hasn’t been losing any more frequently, his ratio of wins to losses are at 50% since 2004 (his last eight fights). One of those losses came to Brock Lesner, who some think may not have beaten Couture in his prime. If Couture can beat Antonio Nogueira in August, a man nearly 15 years his junior, it may dispel some fans who feel he is a bit too old to stay in the cage.

Matt Hughes is another fighter who has begun wracking up losses as he ages. His record, since late 2006 is 2-3, with one of those wins coming over Matt Serra, another 35 year old competitor. In fact, Hughes, himself, helped prove that some fighters can’t compete with younger competitors when he beat Royce Gracie, a Jiu-Jitsu and MMA legend, at UFC 60 in 2006. Ken Shamrock has been 2-7 since 2002, which would be the span of his career from age 38 to 45.

Every single one of these competitors, with the exception of Serra, who started his professional career a bit later in his life, has well over 20 fights in their career. Some have thirty or over forty. So, while age certainly is a factor in the wins and losses column, so is the sheer amount of fights a fighter has fought. In addition to younger fighters being more agile, stronger, and having more modern training methods to round them out, each fight takes a toll on a fighters body. We’ve all seen Rocky V, here. This is clearly hard evidence.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Fedor Emelianenko has had over 30 fights in just 9 years and has only one loss to Kosaka in 2000. This loss was from too much blood loss, leading a doctor to stop the bout. Emelianenko is not as old as these other competitors. At 32, though, he is heading towards that magical 35 year old mark. So, time will tell if he can continue his win streak. Though, most are confident that, even in his twilight years, Emelianenko can continue to dominate whatever heavyweight division he is in.

Lidell revolutionized the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. But, even someone as innovative as Lidell is going to learn a few tricks from younger counterparts. Moves that Micheal Jordan invented on the court have become staples for players like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Royce Gracie, who showed the entire combat world that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a very important fighting technique, found himself countered, cornered and TKOd by Hughes, who walked down the very road that Gracie had paved.

Lidell has walked down that same road for over 11 years. His legs must be tired…

All wins, losses, dates, and records are from www.mixedmartialarts.com, the Official Certified Database for Mixed Martial Arts by the Association of Boxing Commissions.