Musicians have had celebrities cast in their music videos since the start of the MTV era. Mike & the Mechanics, for example, recruited Richard Belzer (now on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) to appear in their video for "Taken In" more than 20 years ago. Danny Aiello played Madonna's dad in "Papa Don't Preach". Capt. Lou Albano was a semi-regular in Cyndi Lauper's "repertory company", if you will. Hulk Hogan made a video with country legend Dolly Parton, if you can believe it.

Now, with mixed martial arts being one of the hottest sports attractions on the planet, it makes sense to have some MMA stars in videos. Chuck Liddell is getting the most ink as one of the most recognizable names in UFC, so Nickelback recruited him to appear in the video for their latest single, "Rockstar", off the 2006 CD, "All The Right Reasons". The band itself doesn't appear until some concert footage at the end of the video, but Liddell is lip-syncing some of the lyrics in several scenes. He's not alone. Consider who also appears in the video:

Gene Simmons (KISS)
Kid Rock
Uncle Kracker
Tim Duncan (NBA)
Wayne Gretzky
Nelly Furtado
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
The Teutel family ("American Chopper")
Ted Nugent
The Naked Cowboy (NYC street performer who actually wears briefs & socks with his stetson hat)
John Rich (Big & Rich)

Pretty heady company, isn't it? By comparison, John Cena was only able to get Gary Coleman to star in his video for "Bad, Bad Man" 2 years ago, and that was a satire of "The A-Team". Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson did a sort-of-duet with Wyclef Jean a few years back, and surprisingly hasn't been asked to do another video. Filming one movie right after another will have something to do with that.

What it says about Liddell, and by extension, UFC, is that it has gained mainstream acceptance in the same way the WWF (now WWE) did more than 20 years ago. Mixed martial arts is here to stay, and may soon outgrow the need to do a reality show (Ultimate Fighter's ratings have declined, from what I've read).

Meanwhile, Randy Couture, the other UFC star to gain any kind of mainstream attention the last five years, has announced he's leaving UFC. If the reports from Dave Meltzer are to be believed, it's because UFC chief Dana White is throwing large money at "unproven fighters", paying them at a higher rate than Couture is getting. Couture, for his part, is in South Africa shooting a followup to Johnson's 2002 hit, "The Scorpion King", although Johnson himself won't be in it this time. I don't have all the details, but I suspect that this might not be a good move on Couture's part to sever his ties with UFC.

In all probability, when it's all said & done, Liddell's future, not Couture's, might be in movies. I can see "The Iceman" in a James Bond movie down the line, playing a henchman not too much unlike the late Harold Sakata's Oddjob ("Goldfinger"). However, since UFC fighters have an even lighter schedule than WWE & TNA wrestlers, I don't see Liddell sacrificing MMA for Hollywood completely. Of course, I could be wrong.