Chuck Liddell announced his retirement from fighting on Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS – Chuck Liddell has embodied everything that is great about mixed martial arts.

He’s intelligent, soft-spoken and as humble as they come. But when the bell rang to signal the start of a fight, nobody fought harder or created more havoc than the guy who came to be known as “The Iceman” because of the concussive power of his fists.

Liddell announced his retirement Wednesday during a news conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas that was packed with fans and media, ending an era in which he literally helped put the sport on the map.

When UFC president Dana White and casino moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta completed their purchase of the company nearly 10 years ago, Liddell was one of its three most popular fighters, along with Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz.

Upon his retirement, Liddell – who moves into a role as executive vice president of business development with the Ultimate Fighting Championship – remains at the top of the list in terms of popularity. He’s become an A-list celebrity because of his fierce style inside the cage and his open, approachable manner outside of it.

Liddell owns a degree in accounting from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a thoughtful, well-spoken man who barely speaks above a whisper. But he became the Babe Ruth of MMA by fighting with reckless abandon and going for the knockout against any and all comers.

In his prime, he was nearly impossible to take down, had a granite chin and punched as hard as anyone in the sport. He knocked out Couture – who, at 47, is himself making noise about retirement – to win the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 52 on April 16, 2005. He was part of the first UFC card to sell more than a million on pay-per-view, hitting 1.05 million for his rematch with Ortiz at UFC 66.

“I’ve done this all my life and it’s all I know – competing,” Liddell said. “I’ve never been out of season. I’ve gone from karate to wrestling to football, and I was always competing all the way through. It’s hard to make that decision to retire. I talked to my family, I talked to my coaches, John [Hackleman], about it.

Eventually, he came to the conclusion that retirement was the wisest course.