Chuck Liddell Explains Why Tito Ortiz Trilogy Fight Is Gamble

Chuck Liddell explains why he thinks accepting a third fight against Tito Ortiz was a gamble on his part. Liddell has not fought since June 2010 and is now 48 years old. He decided to retire after losing five of his last six bouts, four of them by vicious knockout.

There are some fight fans who believe that Liddell should be fighting while others think the opposite. Granted, Liddell lost the last few fights that he took part in at the end of his career. It’s also been nearly a decade since he competed. The thing with this fight is that there’s not much upside for Liddell except for just wanting to fight. So if Liddell beats Ortiz for a third time then good for him. However, if he loses then he has to deal with losing to someone whom he’s already beat and hates.

Either way, at the end of the day, Liddell is confident coming into this fight. And he should be due to their history. Thus, in an interview leading up to this fight, the former UFC light heavyweight champion made one thing known. That was taking this fight is a gamble on himself. Not doing it for fame or the money.

“It was taking a gamble,” Liddell told MMAjunkie. “It wasn’t a big upfront (paycheck). It’s taking a gamble that you’ll be successful, but it’s also a big home run if you win. I had offers everywhere,” Liddell said. “A lot bigger guarantees to fight anybody I wanted to pick. I could pick anybody. They didn’t care.”

Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 3 goes down on Saturday, November 24, 2018, inside The Forum in Inglewood, California. The main card will air on PPV (pay-per-view) at 9 p.m. ET with six bouts. The preliminary card will begin at 6 p.m. ET.

Liddell continued by stating that he sees this fight against his arch-rival in Ortiz as a tuneup fight.

“The name, whoever I fought, they didn’t care. But I chose this over that because I think it’s a fight my fans want, and I think for me, it’s a closest thing to a tuneup fight that’s got a name to it that there is.”