Despite his success in the octagon, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell has been having a rough time in his personal life.
Liddell’s personal life was first subjected to scrutiny last year when he was arrested for domestic violence. Liddell then issued a statement refuting the charges. An excerpt from statement details:
“I was the victim of the incident last night at our family home, as details of the case will reveal. The deputies informed me that my wife would be arrested, as I did not respond to her assault while I sustained bruising and lacerations. I volunteered to go in her place.”
The charges have since been dismissed and Liddell filed for divorce. DA went on to dismiss charges but apparently there’s merit to them – according to Liddell’s ex wife.
The records acquired by The Blast indicate that Northcutt says Liddell’s conduct has changed drastically because of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). This is a disorder of the brain caused by repetitive hits to the head. The documents were a part of their custody battle.
Northcutt speculates that Liddell developed the disorder during the course of his long MMA career. One of the worst consequences of his time in the ring is that the former champion is turning “increasingly violent.”
The report stated:
“Ms. Liddell also stated that Mr. Liddell has had a lot of paranoia and accused her of a lot of things. He also became very worried that she was going to leave him after he lost his job in 2017.”
“Ms. Liddell also claimed that Mr. Liddell has become increasingly violent. She stated that this last thing that happened was not typical, and she was concerned that he had experienced traumatic brain injury.”
This is no isolated case in MMA. Diego Sanchez’ ex wife emailed UFC seeking help for similar pattern of behavior a while before divorcing Sanchez and setting him on a path towards divorce.
Tony Ferguson similarly had an episode during which his wife had phoned the police several times, fearing for safety.
“Ms. Liddell also claimed that Mr. Liddell has been violent with non-family members. She claimed that Mr. Liddell has knocked out friends when they tried to help him and used to beat people up”
The paper also contains Northcutt’s admission that her ex-husband’s heath is deteriorating rapidly. She cited that he was facing dementia, Alzheimer’s, sleep apnea, and depression, among other things.
“When asked if she had any specific concerns about Mr. Liddell, with respect to his physical health, Ms. Liddell replied,
‘Yes, he’s been knocked out many times and has CTE. He can’t remember stuff and gets stuck on speech. He’s going to have dementia or Alzheimer’s. He has terrible sleep apnea’.”
“With regard to Mr. Liddell’s mental health, Ms. Liddell expressed concern regarding Mr. Liddell’s depression, his constantly needing to escape… and his impulsivity.”
According to Northcutt, Liddell is self medicating.